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PRESIDENT PETERSON GOES TO WASHINGTON President C. Petrus Peterson was scheduled to appear before the Senate sub-committee on Interior Appropriations on May 16. The most important phases of appro- priations affecting the future of Reclamation is the drastic cut made by the House in the funds for gen- eral investigation. The amount recommended by the . budget is $5,000,000. The House cut this amount to $3,000,000. The committee report contains a pro- vision that would require that no cuts be made in investigations scheduled for completion in 1953, existing projects or Alaskan in- vestigations. Thereby leaving only $800,000 for general investigations in other areas. This will force a complete stopping of investigations in some areas and will ahso vitally affect funds available for stream- flow measurements. The serious- ness of this situation is realized when one considers the dearth of authorized reclamation projects. The "no new starts" policy is working an extreme hardship in some critical areas. President Peterson has indicated that he intends to emphasize the importance of these situations as well as other phases of the Recla- mation program. SUBCOMMITTEE MEETS IN LINCOLN, NEBRASKA Sub-committee No.1 of the sev- enteen-man Water Policy Commit- tee, with H. G. Greenamyre, chair- man, met in Lincoln, Nebraska, on April 26 and 27. The full Water Policy Commit- tee, Marshall N. Dana, chairman, at a recent meeting in Denver, voted to divide its responsibilities among three sub-committees as follows: Sub-committee No. 1-Develop- ment of Water Resources. Sub-committee No. 2-0rgani- zational Responsibility and Related Policy. Sub-committee No. 3 - Hydro- electric Power Development. The other members of sub-com- mittee No.1 include: J. H. Moeur, Arizona; George S. Knapp, Kan- sas . Otto M. Christinson, Montana; and Art Svendby, South Dakota. 2473 . SMALL PROJECT BILL PENDING The N. R. A. Small Project Com- mittee met in Denver, April 18, with John Bliss, T. W. Jensen and Raymond Lund of the committee members present. Others present included J. W. Dixon, Director of Project Planning, Bureau of Rec- lamation, and your Secretary-Man- ager. The purpose of the Denver meeting was to consider the sub- stitute bill introduced by Congress- woman Bosone, H.R. 7084. This bill was somewhat different than the previous bill, H.R. 2646. The major differences are that under the latter bill loans are to be made by the R.F.C. upon recommenda- tion and findings of the Secretary of the Interior. The revolving fund was eliminated and non-reimburs- abIes were permitted providing they were approved by the Com- mittees on Interior and Insular Affairs of the Senate and the House. The N. R. A. Small Pro- jects Committee approved H.R. 7084 with minor amendments. The House sub-committee on ir- rigation and reclamation held hear- ings on this bill April 28, 29 and 30. The hearings were opened by Congresswoman Bosone, who made an extra fine statement in behalf of the bill. Witnesses who appeared in support of the bill included: Congressman Granger of Utah, Mr. Harry S. Shuart for Congressman Dempsey of New Mexico, J. W. Dixon of the Bureau of Reclama- tion, John Bliss, New Mexico, chairman N. R. A. committee, Wm. R. Wallace of Utah, T. W. Jensen of Utah and your Secretary-Man- ager. The Secretary of Agricul- ture, Charles F. Brannon, appeared in opposition to the bill contending that there are lending agencies within the Department of Aogricul- ture already operating in the area and prepared to do the job pro- posed by this bill. He contended also that the job was more agri- cultural than engineering-a view that is contrary to the position taken by N. R. A.'s Small Proj- ect Committee. It became quite apparent during the hearings that there would have to be some amendments to the bill -such as eliminating non-reim- bursables. It was also suggested that the R.F.C. should be elimi- nated, giving the responsibility of making the loan to the Secretary of the Interior and some other (Contin/LCd on page 4, column 3) 3 . CALIFORNIA MAY PURCHASE CENTRAL VALLEY PROJECT State Egineer A. D. Edmonston, in a report submitted on March 25 of this year to the California Water Project Authority, stated that it is financially feasible for the State to take over and operate the Cen- tral Valley Project. The project was first authorized as a State undertaking in 1933 when the California State Legisla- ture passed the Central Valley Project Act. Later it was approved by the voters at a special referen- dum election and became effective January 13, 1934. Subsequently it was authorized as a Federal proj- ect. Successive Federal appropria- tions which started in 1935 have continued until, as of June 30, 1952, the Federal Government will have a total of $396,937,427 in the project. In addition to this amount, the Corps of Engineers of the U. S. Army has invested ap- proximately $16,000,000 in the American R i v e r development, which is included as part of the authorized CVP. The report proposes that the Water Project Authority issue rev- enue bonds and pay the Federal Government a lump sum for the reimbursable cost of those features of the project now constructed or under construction with the excep- tion of the distribution systems which have been underwritten by various irrigation districts. Following the release of the re- port, the California State Legisla- ture voted $10,000,000 to initiate purchase of the project. A more complete summary of this report was published in the April issue of Western Water News, published by Water Eco- nomic Committee, Irrigation Dis- trict Association of California, 932 Pacific Building, San Francisco, 3, California. . , ARIZONA'S GOLDEN JUBILEE PROVES COLORFUL AFFAIR Reclamation's Golden Jubilee was celebrated in a big way in Arizona last month. Highlights included turning first water to Wellton-Mohawk project. Barbe- cue at Mohawk School followed by addresses by Governor Pyle, Com- missioner Straus and Joe Mans- field. Also a colorful pageant and banquet at Phoenix.