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<br />19 <br /> <br /> <br />The 1963 report did not consider certain plans to increase <br />project revenues, some of which were being implemented, <br />Le., interconnections between Pick-Sloan and other Federal <br />systems such as Southwestern Power Administration, Colorado <br />River Storage Project, and Bonneville Power Administration <br />(indirectly through private utilities). <br /> <br />The scale of irrigation development, and irrigation <br />assistance repayment associated with it, is different <br />between the 1963 repayment analyses and the present. The <br />1963 report projects. all irrigation repayment as completed <br />by 2057, whereas the 1976 study shows $1.3 billion unpaid <br />"W~ . <br /> <br />Construction and 0&1'1 c.osts have mushroomed. <br /> <br />As the Bureau. notes in its comments on Qur draft report, <br />there i.s_.a"state of flux'_' r.egar~ing the outcome of some <br />uni ts, such as Garrison and Oahe. <br /> <br />More than 10 years ago the GAO questioned the concept of <br />ultimate development as a reasonable basis for financial <br />management in Pick-Sloan, See exhibit II, pages 5 and 6. <br /> <br />Finally, our review was undertaken before, and had no relation to, the <br /> <br />comprehensive review of Federal water policy which culminated in water <br /> <br />policy initiatives forwarded to the Congress and announced June 6, 1978, <br /> <br />in the President's Water Policy Message. This waS some time after com- <br /> <br />pletion of our audit, and after review of our draft report by the <br /> <br />agencies involved. We believe, howeveJ;', that recommendations in <br /> <br />this report are compatible with the President's Wat~r Policy Message. <br /> <br />Actually, the Congress requires that individual units included under <br /> <br />the original plan for which construction is not yet started be reauthor- <br /> <br />ized under present procedures. That process, however, has not involved <br /> <br />reconsideration of Pick-Sloan as a whole nor has it departed from the <br />