BOARD02516

• Board Meeting Date: 11/12/1958
• Description: Minutes
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Meeting

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MR. PETERSON:

MR. SPARKS:

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The minutes of July 18th are approved with
whatever additional changes are submitted
to the Director's office.

Now turn to the minutes of September
17th, 1958. Are there any corrections or
additions to these minutes?"

"Mr. Chairman I think I contacted the
office in connection with a correction on the
September 17th minutes. Do you have that
Larry?"

"Yes. M~. Peterson called our attention
to the fact that when Mr. Larson completed his
report to us in that meeting of September 17th
he handed us his written report and then he
stated at the conclusion that he was certain
that the Secretary of the Interior would find
that the Curecanti two dam project would be a
feasible project and I think Mr. Peterson asked
him again if that was correct, that that was a
feasible project, and Mr. Larson stated that it
was.

Now we did not include that in the minutes
because, if you will recall, Mr. Larson speci-
fically asked us not to. He submitted to us
his written report which he wanted put in the
record but no more. The basis for his request
is that it is not within his province or author-
ity to certify that any project is feasible.
That decision rests solely with the Secretary
of the Interior and Mr. Larson did not wish to
have anything in our records to show that he had
approved it in advance. I think we should play
along with him on that. He stated to us frankly
and it was put into the newspapers that he COn-
sidered it was a feasible project and that the
Secretary was so going to state. Nevertheless,
the Bureau works under certain channels of pro-
cedure and as long as it appeared in the news-
papers we can say he said it but it doesn't ap-
pear in our minutes and for that purpose very
often these people who make reports will ask us
that matters be kept off our official minutes
and that was the sole reason we omitted it."