Laserfiche WebLink
<br />Aspinall Unit and certified to Congress and the President that the <br />benefits of the Aspinall Unit exceeded its costs. 70 stat. 105, 43 <br />U.S.C. 620. <br /> <br />29. The 1959 Economic Justification Report: The additional <br />engineering and economic investigations were performed and the <br />Aspinall Unit was "found to be engineeringly feasible and economi- <br />cally justified." (Exhibit 182, Letter of Transmittal, Page II!.) <br />The "Economic Justification Report of February 1959" [the "1959 <br />Report"] (see : Exhibit 182, begin at p. XXI) to Congress states the <br />assumptions under which the Aspinall Unit was found by the <br />secretary to be economically justified. Said report and correspon- <br />dence relating to it demonstrate the following assumptions and <br />bases for approval of the Aspinall Unit: <br /> <br />a. That the Aspinall Unit would be developed to achieve the <br />following purposes: power generation, flood control, irriga- <br />tion, and extensive recreational benefits. (Exhibit 182, p. <br />XXIII). In fact the opening sentence of the Purpose and Scope <br />section of the Report stated: <br /> <br />"The object of the Curecanti (Aspinall) unit is <br />primarily to develop the water storage and hydro- <br />electric power generating potentialities along a <br />40-mile section of the Gunnison River in Colorado. <br />Other purposes of the, unit are irrigation, recre- <br />ation, and flood control." (Exhibit 182, p. 1) <br /> <br />b. With respect to water availability for the Aspinall <br />Project, the 1959 Report stated: <br /> <br />"Fortnrs study-it was assumed that no additional <br />water use developments upstream from the Gunnison <br />tunnel would occur prior to 1970 since none of the <br />authorized participating projects of the Colorado <br />River storage project are located in the upper <br />Gunnison River Basin. Five potential participat- <br />ing projects in that basin, however, were men- <br />tioned in the legislation authorizing the storage <br />project as being among the projects to be given <br />priority in future investigations and planning <br />reports. These are the Tomichi Creek, East River, <br />Ohio Creek, Fruitland Mesa and Bostwick Park <br />projects. Depletions from these projects were <br />assumed to begin in 1971 and increase uniformly <br />until full depletion is reached in 2020. It was <br />estimated that between 1970 and 2020 average <br />annual depletions would increase by 40,000 acre- <br />feet above the Blue Mesa Dam site, by 50,000 acre- <br />feet above the Morrow Point Dam site, and by <br />60,000 acre-feet above the Crystal Dam site. <br />After vear 2020 no further additional deoletions <br />were anticiDated. The annual depletions were <br />assumed to vary slightly from year to year in <br />accordance with the available water supply. A <br /> <br />19 <br />