Laserfiche WebLink
<br />contains a floor, but no explicit upper limit, on <br />what power rates should be charged for <br />hydropower. 43 U.S.C. section 485h(c). However, <br />the consistent policy of the United States has <br />been to charge the lowest possible rates <br />consistent with sound business principles for CRSP <br />power. A May 15, 1965, letter from the Secretary <br />of the Interior to Wayne Aspinall, the Chairman of <br />the House Committee on Interior and Insular <br />Affairs, explains the foundation for that policy: <br /> <br />The Colorado River Storage Project is a <br />Reclamation project, and Section 4 of the <br />Colorado River Storage project makes it <br />subject to all of the Federal reclamation <br />laws. A careful reading of those laws long <br />ago compelled us to the conclusion that the <br />Congress intended that power generated at <br />Reclamation projects be sold at the lowest <br />possible rate consistent with sound business <br />principles.. Although this requirement is not <br />found in the Reclamation laws in those <br />particular words, we believe it to be a sound <br />construction of congressional intent--a <br />construction that has, incidentally, been <br /> <br />41 <br />