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<br /> <br />1;", <br />.' <br /> <br /> <br />N <br />I-" INTERIOR DEPARTMENT MAKES DECISION ON COLORADO <br />W RIVER STORAGE PROJECT TRANSMISSION SYSTEM <br />W <br /> <br />[Press release Feb. 20, 19621 <br /> <br />Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today announced that <br />the Department of the Interior has made its basic decisions concerning <br />construction of transmission lines for the five-State Colorado River <br />storage project. <br />The plan achieves the Kennedy administration goals of: (I) Maxi- <br />mum savings for the Upper Colorado Storage Basin fund (which will <br />finance all major dams and participating reclamation projects in the <br />basin); (2) full protection of the service rights of preference customers <br />at the lowest possible rates; and (3) stregthelling of the Federal system <br />through interconnections with facilities of private power companies. <br />Announcement of the plan was made possible by completion of <br />negotiations leading to agreements with four of the five major private <br />utilities in the Colorado Basin area (those in Colorado, New Mexico, <br />Utah, and Wyoming). An agreement was not reached with the <br />Arizona Public Service Co., but an interconnection still is under <br />negotiation. <br />Acceptance of the utilities' proposals, Secretary Udall said, will <br />mean a $27 million reduction in the Federal investment for. the trans- <br />mission grid and will add $77 million to the project's basin fund by <br />the year 2042, when the 87-year payout period is completed. <br />Secretary Udall pointed out that negotiations with the companies <br />were carried out in accord with an understanding reached with con- <br />gressional Appropriations Committees last year when $13,673,000 <br />was appropriated for the Bureau of Reclamation to undertake planning <br />and initial construction of a Federal system. The Department was <br />authorized to proceed on the entire system "unless the Secretary finds <br />it practical and in the national interest to enter into wheeling con- <br />tracts. " <br />Negotiations, conducted by the Bureau of Reclamation under <br />dire.ction of Commissioner Floyd E. Dominy, have made possible a <br />strong high-voltage power system on both sides of the Rocky <br />Mountains, assuring delivery of power over a heavier grid than was <br />proposed under the all-Federal system, the Secretary said. N egotia- <br />tion of detailed agreements will be undertaken immediately. <br />. Some sections in the original all-Federal proposal will now be <br />eliminated, and others will be delayed as prior construction of pri- <br />vately financed lines will meet the early transmission needs. Power <br />from Flaming Gorge Dam ip. Utah is expected to .come on the line in <br />1963 8Jld from Glen Canyon Dam, in northern Arizona, in 1964. <br />The Curec8Jlti unit of the Colorado River storage project will begin <br />producing power about 3 years later. <br />A temporary wheeling arran~ement has been agreed upon for the <br />Four Corners-to-Albuquerque Ime in New Mexico 8Jld a permanent <br />wheeling arrangement has been decided upon for Utah. Elsewhere in <br /> <br />3 <br /> <br /> <br />:. " <br /> <br /> <br />" ~ <br /> <br />