BOARD00930

• Board Meeting Date: 5/10/1961
• Description: Minutes
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Meeting

I

for marketing of the power and also brought forth
the all-federal yardstick transmission system
which would be used for evaluating utility wheel-
ing offers. The criteria established delivery
points for project power which are shown as tri-
angles on this particular map behind me. In the
State of Colorado these are located at Rangely,
Oak Creek, Montrose, Gunnison and Pueblo. The
criteria which accompanied these state that
Upper Basin preference customers would be served
first and that any surplus power would be mar-
keted to the preference customers in the Lower
Basin. The Bureau officials, when we conferred
with them, agreed that this yardstick system as
shown, for purposes of valid comparison, must be
considered to be able to stand on its own, void
of any interconnections with existing or planned
systems.

On January 17, 1961, the Secretary announced
the results of the Bureau's analysis which, in
effect, rejected the.utilities proposal, stating
that acceptance of the utilities proposal would
increase the cost of power to the customers about
10% - this was from a 6 mill figure to 6.57 mills
- and further, total irrigation assistance to the
project would be lessened. After thorough analy-
sis of the ground rules and methods of comparison,
the utility engineers have found numerous omis-
sions, misinterpretations and misapplications in
the Bureau's analysis which we believe invalidate
the above conclusion. Four general inconsisten-
cies; out of some 13 noted, provide more than
sufficient argument for a joint transmission
system as measured against the all-federal system.

)

The all-federal system limits power to
Arizona to 450,000 kilowatts, although the util-
ities we.re instructed, at the time of our confer-
ring wit:}} the Bureau, that wesholild furnish
facilities. to .transport 600,000 kilowatts to the
south... At the outset then, ground rules.for the
all-federal' transmissi.on system were in direct
violation <of the Secretary's own marketing cri-
teria. Arid this was further pointed out when,
upon conferring with Bureau officials, and point-
ing up this inconsistency, these officials