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<br />-5- <br /> <br />The Mid-West Electric Consumers Association doesn't want <br />"destructive projects" built regardless of their economic <br />attractiveness. By the same token, we don't want imprecise <br />economic evaluations to stop the country from meeting its <br />social, economic and environmental obligations. <br /> <br />We urge you to remember that the criteria used for making <br />economic evaluations is much more important than the discount <br />rates applied to future benefits. <br /> <br />Discounting future benefits from land and water projects <br />at a 7% rate is certain 'to result in benefit cost-ratios below <br />unity for most projects in the thinly populated areas of the <br />country. <br /> <br />We would expect the same result with respect to most public <br />activities if they were to be evaluated on a basis similar to <br />the criteria for water resource projects that we are discussing <br />here today. This, of course, is the reason these activities <br />are conducted by public agencies and not by the private, profit- <br />motivated sector of the economy. <br /> <br />Should we abandon Rural Free Delivery because the benefit- <br />cost is better in New York City? Should we discontinue mail <br />service to small mid-western towns because the service does not <br />produce economic benefits comparable to the yields that might <br />be expected if we invested our tax dollars in steel mills? <br /> <br />The Association maintains its office in Denver, Colorado. <br />Does the Council propose an economic evaluation to determine <br />the merits of maintaining Rocky Mountain National Park as com- <br />pared with logging' its forests and mining its minerals? Of <br />course you don't, and neither do we. <br /> <br />We applaud the new emphasis on urban parks and Federal <br />recreation areas close to big cities. We see no need whatsoever <br />to apply economic evaluations to programs designed to make whole- <br />some, outdoor recreation available to the urban poor. <br /> <br />The thirteen organizations sponsoring "Citizens Alert" <br />demand that beneficiaries pay a greater share of the projects' <br />costs. We wonder how they propose to have the beneficiaries <br />of Federal fish hatcheries, wild rivers and national parks and <br />recreation areas reimburse the Treasury for these splendid <br />public activities. Will they install toll gates at Federally <br />