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<br />facts: The Grand Canyon will NOT be ruined. The Grand
<br />Canyon will NOT be filled with water. The Grand Canyon will
<br />NOT be inundated. The 'entire length' of Grand Canyon Park
<br />will NOT be flooded." Concluding on a wistful note, the Citizen
<br />said, "The truth hopefully will stand up in the coming months
<br />where it is needed most-in the Congress of the United States."
<br />
<br />The Sierra Club was not without its own troubles, however.
<br />The Internal Revenue Service had begun an investigation (it
<br />preferred the word "audit") to determine if the club was spend-
<br />ing enough money influencing legislation to warrant loss of its
<br />tax exemption. What caught the attention of IRS were ads placed
<br />by the club in the New York 'l'i1l1C8 and Washi.ngton Post opposing
<br />the dams. By placing such ads, said IRS Commissioner Sheldon
<br />S. Cohen, the club was initiating a nation-wide campaign to
<br />influence legislation "which could reasonably be expected to
<br />be vigorous and continuing. On the basis of these facts, some
<br />action on the part of IRS was clearly indicated. . . Under the
<br />circumstances, the IRS felt it was under a duty to warn the club
<br />and possible contributors of the consequences if the club were
<br />subsequently determined to be disqualified to receive tax de-
<br />ductible contributions." David Brower, executive director of the
<br />Sierra Club, called the IRS move a "gut blow, a low punch,"
<br />charged that political pressure was behind it and conjectured
<br />that the federal government was "trying to scare us off."
<br />
<br />I
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<br />
<br />The Saylor Substitute
<br />
<br />On July 12 the House Committee on Interior and Insular
<br />Affairs met to act on the bill. But before it could do so, Rep.
<br />John Saylor (R-Pa.), who had been a consistent critic of the
<br />program, introduced his own version of it-a substitute bill
<br />deleting the two dams and not providing for any water impor-
<br />tation study. He said it had the support of conservationist groups.
<br />Rep. Morris Udall (D-Ariz.) declared that the Saylor proposal,
<br />if adopted, would "be the death knell for 30 years of effort."
<br />
<br />The committee adjourned after an hour, to return a week
<br />later and act on the two proposals before it.
<br />
<br />On July 19 the, committee reconvened. First it took up the
<br />Saylor substitute. Rep. James H. Haley (D-Fla.) asked Con-
<br />gressman Say'lor how much his version of the Colorado River
<br />plan would cost. Mr. Saylor was unable to give an estimate, and
<br />so Congressman Haley submitted an amendment to the Saylor
<br />substitute setting the cost at $628 million. It carried by voice vote.
<br />
<br />Rep. Ed Reinecke (R-Calif.) tried to amend the Saylor sub-
<br />stitute to include a 4.4-million-acre-foot guarantee to California,
<br />but it was defeated. (Actually the guarantee was incorporated
<br />in the subcommittee version of the bill. Congressman Saylor
<br />described it as "California's price for supporting this bill" and
<br />said it was "unconscionable." "To give California this unjust
<br />enrichment at the expense of other states, I just cannot sup-
<br />port" he said firmly. "This committee has authorized more
<br />
<br />-9-
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