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<br />At about the same time Congress began to focus its attention on devel pment <br /> <br />of the hydroelectric power potential of the nation's rivers and in 1920 enacte the <br /> <br />Federal Water Power Act, which created the Federal Power Commission (now the <br /> <br />Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) to license hydroelectric projects on II <br /> <br />federally owned lands and waters subject to federal jurisdiction. <br /> <br />A series of devastating floods in the 1920's and 1930's led Congress to i 'tiate <br /> <br />major flood control programs dependent primarily on the construction of dam <br /> <br /> <br />levees by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Thus by the mid "century there <br /> <br /> <br />place (1) the federal reclamation program under the Bureau of Reclamation <br /> <br /> <br />applicable in the 11 western states, (2) the federal flood control program under the <br /> <br />Corps of Engineers, applicable nationwide, and (3) the nationwide federal <br /> <br />hydroelectric project liGensing program under the Federal Power Commission. The <br /> <br />two federal dam construction programs had spawned numerous projects across the <br /> <br />nation, including the Bureau's Hoover Dam on the lower Colorado River, the fi st <br /> <br />large scale multipurpose water project providing water supply, flood control and <br /> <br />power generation, with power sale revenues providing the principal reimburse ent <br /> <br />of the project costs. Similarly, FPC-licensed hydro projects had proliferated. W'th <br /> <br /> <br />the rapid growth of our population after World War II, recreation was added as <br /> <br /> <br />important water project purpose. Generally overlooked in the process were fish <br /> <br />wildlife and other environmental values, along with the historic aboriginal wate <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />3 <br />