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930 ARIZONA LAW REVIEW improve navigation on the river.ls The Act also authorized the COns~ tion of the All-American Canal, the Source through which the ImperUJ Valley was to receive Colorado River water.16 Additionally, the Act pm.. vided for ratification and incorporation of the terms of the Colorado River Compact, the agreement apportioning the waters of the Colorado betwcq the Upper and Lower Division states. I? Power was regarded as a secondary aspect of the project useful prine:;. pally as a source of revenue for financing the project.ls The BCPA pr0- vided that all expenses of operation, maintenance, and construction of the . dam and power plant were to be repaid within fifty years from the reve- nues produced by contracts for the generation and delivery of electriQ! energy and for the storage and delivery of water. 19 The Act's requiremem that the sale of Hoover power be the primary means of financing the pro.. ject,20 when combined with the economic realities of the Boulder Canyoca Project Region, led to the unequal distribution of the power.21 In allocating the Hoover power by executing the power contracts, Sco- retary of the Interior Ray Lyman Wilbur was governed by the premise th.11 the BCP A was "a water project and not a power project. Power is being sold to build the dam; the dam is not being built to sell power."22 To meet the BCPA's repayment schedule, it was necessary for th~ Secretary to enter into contracts with power users who were able to begin taking and payin& for the energy immediately.23 Since southern California was the only area in the region capable at the time of absorbing and paying for sufficient energy to yield the revenues required by the BCPA,24 California Customers 1 :. ~ J I i I , .. \ i i i J 15. See id. ~ 617; DOCUMENTS, supra note 4, at 44. The Colorado ,River had a tendency. ill times of flood and when the silt deposits in its delta forced it to change course, to d~ entirely into the Imperial Varl~y. P.L. KLEINSORGE, THE BOULDER CANYON PROJECf 14 (1941). Moreover, the river had been navigable until it began discharging into the Imperial Valley ill 1909, and it was used for trade until 1817, when the Southern Pacific Railway reached Yum.&. DOCUMENTS, supra note 4, at 2. The river's former navigability became highly important whaa Arizona later attacked the BCPA's ':X'nstitutionality, since the United States Supreme Court up- held the Act as a constitutional exercise of Congress' power to regulate navigation. See ArizoDa ". California, 283 U.S. 423 (1931). 16. See 43 U.S.C. ~ 617 (1976). 17. See id.; DOCUMENTS, supra note 4, at 44. 18. See Letter from Secretary of the Interior R.L. Wilbur to Arizona Governor Phillips. ill CONTRACTS, supra note 4, at 607. 43 U.S.C. 6 617 (1976) provides that the generation of eleariaJ . energy shall be "a means of making the project . . . a self-supporting and financially solveat undertaking." Id. 6 617e (1976 & Supp. IV 1980) provides that the dam and reservoir are to be used "first, for river regulation and flood control; second, for irrigation and domestic uses aQd satisfaction of present perfected rights. . .; and third, for power." 19. See 43 U.S.c. 6 617a(b), c(b) & d (1976). 20. Id. 6617. 21. See CONTRACTS, supra note 4, at 601. 22. Id at 607. 23. See id. at 18. "The allocation of the energy was undertaken on the premise ~t ~ ' project act required that the public interest be the governing factor and that the first reqwslte III protecting the public interest was to provide adequate security for the taxpayers' money." It!. 24. Id at 17. There was, however, no problem in finding prospective customers for tbc power. An invitation for applications for the purchase of power was published on September 10. 1929, and by October I, 1929, the Secretary had received 27 applications for power. Id. at 11-11. Although some of these applications were conditional or indefinite, the total amount of cuerg applied for was well over three times the amount available. Id. at 18. The City of Los Aug~1cs and Southern California Edison each applied for the entire power output, while the MetropobWl Water District asked for one-half and Nevada, as a state, applied for one-third. Id. at 17-11. ! 1 i. ~ f i { i_ / /'