WSP05309 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

0D25~5 "Arizona .can wait no longer. I am confident that this Con- gress and this administration will give first priority to the Cen- tral Arizona Project-a desperately needed project." Anticipating California opposition, Senator Hayden remind- ed the Senate that two of her governors, Republican Earl War- ren and Democrat Edmund G. "Pat" Brown, had both said that Arizona should be permitted to use the water awarded to her by the U. S. Supreme Court. Senator Fannin explained the technical details of the bill, which he described as a "final project hammered out after 20 years of congressional debate." "Patience, it has been said, is a virtue," commented the junior senator from Arizona. "But, as with all maxims, there are limits to its exercise. The virtue of patience lies in the certainty that the ever-awaited will ulti- mately occur. A man dying of thirst can await water just so long; its absence can be endured only to a point beyond which his survival is threatened. The analogy fits Arizona. I ask your support for this rescue project." Senator Jackson of Washington supported the Arizona bill and defended the omission of any provision for study or financing of a water import, which, he pointed out, was being left to the proposed National Water Commission to study. "The proponents of trans-basin diversion," said the vVashington senator, "talk in terms of a vol ume of water equal to more than half of the cur- rent flow of the Colorado River. This contemplates not a pipe- line system but the construction of a canal equal to a major river." Senator Jackson said the Hayden bill was "in the na- tional, regional and state interests" and represented "the high art of statesmanship practiced by the senior senator from Ari- zona, Mr. Hayden." 'Spectacular Fli'p-Flop': Kuchel The opposition was led by California's Senator Kuchel. He denounced the Johnson administration (and, by implication, Secretary Udall) for "one of the most spectacular flip-flops in history"-the abandonment of the regional bill locked up by the Rules Committee the year before. "The only way to meet Southwest water needs is to pass a plan that will help all the states, not just one," he said. Upper Basin senators also were heard. Senator Hansen of Wyoming said that if the Upper Basin states were using their entitlement, there would be no water left for CAP. Senator AlIott of Colorado scorned the five Colorado projects in the bill. Senator Moss of Utah demanded a water import, which he said could come from anyone of three places-the Pacific Northwest, northern California or Canada. He also insisted on Hualapai Dam as an essential for revenue-raising to finance basin projects, stating that the charge that the dam would flood the Grand Canyon was "ludicrous." The California-Upper Basin outcry was largely for the rec- ord. Arizona had the votes. All that the Arizona senators .'- '::. ..' ......... -11- ." ......... "." . .".-." >:;. . .-. . .":- .:< :. ::~~.~'. ..:.~ ,.-::. ....:::-. :.<:.. :.:.::.:::.-....... , .:." .:.. ..: "'" ::":...~.'-