BOARD01799

• Board Meeting Date: 9/8/1961
• Description: Minutes and Resolution
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Meeting

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MR. STAPLETON:

I then asked the Secretary as to whether or
not he had any figures which would indicate the
amount in dollars that the new proposal of the
private power companies differed from the offer
that had been previously made to the Bureau of
Reclamation. The Secretary stated that he did
not have any such figures. Upon my continued
prompting on this point, Commissioner Johnson
stated that he had such figures that had been
presented to him by the Public Service Company
of Colorado. He then tendered me a piece of
paper upon which, it appeared to me, it was
indicated that the new proposal by the investor
utilities amounted to approximately $146,000,000
less than their previous proposal.

During this open session Mr. Bert Hanna of
the Denver Post took the floor and denounced
the Commission for the secrecy of its delibera-
tions.

A rather interesting fact in connection
with the new proposal made by the utility com-
panies is that the staff of this Board, with
all the means at our command, have tried to
continue working closely with the investor
utility companies representatives and particu-
larly the Public Service Company of Colorado.
Propositions were made by our staff and our
consultants to the Public Service company, and
it was agreed that the Public Service Company
would convey our position to the other utility
companies involved and that we would get to-
gether on certain points to see if we could
work out the differences. Since our staff was
in complete ignorance of the secret negotia-
tions of the various Commission members, we can
only assume at this time that we were thoroughly
duped by the Public Service Company of Colorado.

That, gentlemen, constitutes my report on
the meeting which occurred last Friday."

"To clarify my mind, I take it that the
other states in the Upper Colorado River Basin
were equally uninformed about thilil meeting?"