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<br /> <br />i <br />It is our viaw that we are now con;fronted, with a major challenge in <br />utilizing the natural resources o! the area' to halt a steadily <br />worsening economic situation and ~urn the tide in the direction of <br />future economic well-being and de~elopment, Although the role of <br />the Federal Government is not all-iinclusive in this matter and the <br />Department of the Interior does not ex~rcise all of the Federal <br />responsibility, the Department dO~S have several opportunities to <br />contribute substantially to desir~ble and badly needed economic <br />development: (1) helping provide Ian abundant supply of low-cost <br />electric power, (2) developing ad~quate irrigation water supplies <br />for a stable agricultural economy,' and (3) the use of the area.' s <br />lignite and other coal resources ~or the production of low-cost <br />power to assist industrial develop'ment, <br /> <br />Federal multiple-purpose water re~outee development has produced a <br />substantial block of comparativelt cheap electric energy that under <br />, <br />Federal law has been made availab+e to agricultural, residential, <br />and small commercial consumers. Certainly everyone who has partici- <br />pated must be pleased with the rellults that have been accomplished <br />as a result of the cooperation between the Federal Government, the <br />rural electric cooperatives, the, publicly owned utilities, and the <br />investor-owned utilities of the r,gion. <br />i <br />By 1959 it was obvious that whole, ale customers in the area who were <br />dependent upon the Federal hydroelectric power system could not <br />, <br />expect the system to provide suff~cient power to meet their needs <br />beyond 1965. In 1961 the challenge was to find appropriate methods <br />to assist customers of the Federa~ system to develop increasing <br />supplies of low-cost electricity, i while utilizing to the maximUIII <br />facilities constructed by the Uni~ed States as an integral part of <br />its water resources development program. <br /> <br />The transmission pool, which has been established in the area, provides <br />an appropriate mechanism for powek.supply requirements above that <br />available from the Government, so! that other utilities in the region <br />may utilize surplus capacity avai~al?le in the Bureau of Recbmation <br />transmission network. The Basin ~lectrie Power Cooperative is building <br />a 200,OOO-kilowatt lignite-burn1ng steam plant at Stanton, North Dakota, <br />which will produce economical pow~r . Basin Electric \gill use llltisting <br />. surplus capacity in the Reclamat~on ,system to deliver power to its <br />members and customers, As apar~ of the arrangement, Basin Electric <br />will sell low-cost off-peak elect~ic energy to the Bureau of Reclamation. <br />This energy will be coordinated ~ith hydro peaking power and hydro <br />seconc1ary energy to serve fim p,*er to cus tomers. <br /> <br />2 <br />