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<br />Mr. Brannan. who represents Rocky Mountain Power Company. I would like <br />to say that. as chairman of this board. I have tried to be impartial and <br />fair and I have no axe to grind whatsoever with the Rocky Mountain Power <br />Company. With that background. which I hope you will take at face value. <br />let me read this: <br /> <br />"July 9. 1973 <br /> <br />I <br /> <br />Honorable Benjamin F. Stapleton <br />Chairman. Colorado Water Conservation <br />Board <br />1700 Broadway <br />Denver. Colorado 80202 <br /> <br />Dear Mr. Chairman: <br /> <br />As indicated to you by telephone. I learned on Friday of last week <br />(July 6. 1973) that the agenda for the meeting of your Board at Glenwood <br />Springs on July 10th and 11th would include a proposal that the Board <br />support Senate Bill 702 now under consideration by the Subcommittee of <br />the U.S. Senate Committee on Interior Affairs. <br /> <br />S. 702 proposes to authorize the creation of the Flat Tops Wilderness <br />in Western Colorado. but not with the boundaries as recommended to the <br />Congress by the agencies of the Federal Government assigned to study and <br />recommend the creation of these areas. The Bill adds several new areas. <br />One of these additions to the original boundaries includes the so-called <br />"Meadows Area" on the South Fork of the White River which is the site of <br />a project to be built by Rocky Mountain Power Co. for 'the purposes of <br />generating hydroelectric power and supplying water to the oil shale industry. <br /> <br />Since about 1959. Rocky Mountain Power Co. has been subjected to repeated <br />legal attacks upon its right to the use of this site for impoundment of <br />waters of the South Fork of the White River. It has successfully resisted <br />these attacks and is currently preparing to renew its engineering work <br />on which in excess of $3.000.000 has,already been spent. It now appears <br />the project is confronted with a legislative attack. <br /> <br />I <br /> <br />If the Meadows Area is included in the Flat Tops Wilderness, all of the <br />work and expenditures by this company over the past fifteen years will <br />be lost. But more importantly. the use of this ideal location for <br />impounding water for hydroelectric generation and subsequent distribution <br />to the Piceance Basin for oil shale will also be lost to the great <br /> <br />-44- <br />