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LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL xxv These ,uUlual costs apply mercly to the separate power features, none of the cost of the reservoirs being alloca ted to the generation of energy, It has been plainly demonstrated that UlC Chiflo Reservoir to the capacity proposed is not just.ified for flood-control purposes. Some of its eapacity would have to be allocated to the generntion of energy economically to justify it, The annual value of t.he energy that the Corps of Engineers estimates could he gcncrated at the Chilio and Chl1ma Reservoirs is estiml1ted by thcm at $1,419,810. This is $2'13,953 in excess of the annual cost of t.he separatc power features, In order tbat there should be a 1-to-l ratio between the benefits and cost of power, not, mOI'e than the $243,953 could be chargee! against the Chilio Dam for the production of hydroelectric energy. The total annllnl cost of t.he Chitio, as estimated bv t.he Corps of Engineers, is $1,2fi2,:lOO, This would, therefore, leav'e $1,018,347 of the annual cost to he credi ted to flood con trol. Wlwll practically thc only benefit from the Cbil]o Reservoir for flood-control purposcs would be a reduc- tion in tlamoges due t.o inundation finu scour, and when the total do.mage. from t.hose CRuses is e~t.imiLtcd at $411,260 for t.he e-ntire area along the Rio Grande in Ncw l\/exico ahovc EI Paso, Tcx" and when most of that damage can be tnken care of by flood control on the Chamn, and by the levee system, it is apparent that t.he Chiflo Reser. voir could not be justificd economically even if 1111 the criteria fixed by the Corps of Ellgineers were satisfied. Operation of the proposed project and the eifect on the San Luis jTall~y project. The Rio Grande compact, was dcsigned t,o permit the storage of wat.er above Elephant Butte Reservoir within certain limits and per- mit the passing of t,he ownership of the stored water to interests making this st.orage, providing that the water so stored would other- wise spill from ElepluUlt Butte Reservoir, Article "I of the compact provides: In any )'ear in which there is act.ual spill of usaLlc water, or at t.he t.ime of the hypot.hct,ical ~pill thereof, all accrued debits of Colorado, or New Mexico, or bot.h, at t.he beginllin~ of the year 8hall be cancelerJ. In any year ill which the agg-rt:'gate of accrued debits of Colorado and New Mexico exee(>ds t.h~ minimum unfilled capacit,y of project. storage, such debits shall be reduced proportionally to an aggregate amount equal to such minimum unfilled capacit.y. The amount of "project storagc" is fixed by the compact at not more than a t.otal of 2,838,8(;0 acre-feet. "Project. storage" is defined by the compllct fiS the combined capllcity of Elephant Buttc Rescrvoir and nll ot,her resen'oirs fictually available for t.he stornge of usable wllter below Elephant Butte Reservoir ancl Ilbove thc first diversion for the lanus of t.he Rio Grnnde project, The comp"ct provides that: Hypotllet.icnl spill is the time in any year at which usable water would have spilled from project st.orage if 790,000 acre-feet. had been released t.herefrom at rates proport.ional to the act.ual r(>lea~c in every year from t.he starting date to the end of t.he year ill which hypot.hetical spill occnrl'i. These prov isiolls of t.he compact. were to insure the right of use by IIlnds served by reservoirs eOllstl1leted above Elephant Butte Reservoir to the watcr which otherwise would spill from Elephant Butte Reser- voir and other rcser\'oirs constructed helow Elephnnt Butte Reservoir, but above the first diversion of the Rio Grande project, A. ceiling was place.d upon a t.otal amolint of project. st.orage and all the amount