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4-WRW washn x x x Da_a . The state of south Dakota has held discussions ~ith the Northern states Power Co., the largest investor-owned utility ~ the area, bead- f ~nanc ~ng quartered in Minneapolis, to enter into a partnership to help with/the construction of the Gregory county project. The state has also made application to FERC to build the project, a two-stag:! peak~'tCJ:oZ~~E~ (Ki' project, to be built over a period of about 10-15 years, with 1~80,000/ to be built in the first stage and 1,180,000 KW in the second stage. Altho Abdnor insisted in his discussion with the press on Oct. 26 that the language in the bill authorizing the Gregory county project was not intended to undermine the preference clause, the authorization pro- vided that "Notwithstanding any other provision of law.. . the marketing Of project (power) output" was to be in accordance with I<'terms and con- ditions agreeable to the state of south Dakota." A1tho their organiza- tions might become beneficiaries of this power at some future date, of- ficials of five South Dakota public and rural electric cooperative Or- ganizations objected to the planned development of this project. It would be done, they claimed in a statement issued on Oct. 24, "by prio- vate and non-federal special interest groups whose primary objectives are to maximize the return to their investors," and by destroying the federal preference clause. The statement was issued in south Dakota. Signing the statementwere Wendell Garwood of Heartland Consumers Power District o~ Madison;\Russe1l Dau of the Missouri Basin Municipal power Agency of Sioux Falls; Tom Fennell of the south Dakota Rural Elec- tric Assn., of Pierre; Loren Zingmark of East River Electric power coop- erative of Madison; and Harvey Malon of Rushmore Electric power Coopera- tive of Rapid City. Abdnor and his staff said with the amendments that he, Burdick and Baucus sponsored and approved by the Committee on Oct. 26, investOr-own- ed utilities would not be interested in helping to finance the Gregory County project because of their concern that the reinstatement of the Preference clause in marketing project power "will make it impossible for them to protect their investment. without their investment, the project would not be feasible," Owen Ambur of the Abdnor staff told West ern Resources Wrap-up (WRW) on Oct. 26. "We clearly have additional ~ work to do in reconciling differences," Abdnor told WRW. HCM c\