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<br />L . <br />I <br />, <br /> <br />These recorcs establish clearly that the' O'l~oney-~lillikin Amendment <br />stemced primarily from fears that the authorization an~ development of <br />cert~in navigation projects ~ould establish a priority for use of ~aters of <br />naviC;sb2.e strea:c:!S, ",hich lJight preclude future develoClrnents for irrigation <br />on these strecms anti their tributaries. Proponents of the A~endment repeatedly <br />stressed. the need fOl' protection of ",ater rights for future irrigation. <br />Occasionally, this was broadened to include other upstream beneficial consump- <br />tive uses. Review of the hearing records revealed no ~ention whatsoever of <br />any prierities for hydroel~ctric power generation and, as a matter of fact, <br />there is practically no mention in these hearings of hydroelectric power. It <br />does not seem reasonable that if Congress had intended to a6si&, a priority <br />to hycroelectric power generation, as some now contend, it would have omitted <br />this important use from the rather lengthy list of named uses specifically <br />assigned a priority over navigation use. <br /> <br />With re3ard to the Missouri Basin Program, its purposes are defined by the <br />legislu:tive authorization of the Prcgram. The 1944 Flood Control Act author- <br />ized the comprehensive plans set forth in House DOCULlent 475 ~,d Senate Docu- <br />ment 191, 78th Congress, 2d Session, as revised and coordinated by Senate <br />Doc~~ent 247, 78th Congress, 2d Session. The primary purposes of the Missouri <br />River ~~_in Stcm reservoirs as defined by these docwnents are flood control, <br />irrigation, navigation and hydroelectric power production. None of the docu- <br />ments inclu~ed any indication that power would be given priority over navi- <br />gation. The follo",ing statement fron Senate Document 245, 78th Congress, 2d <br />Session, defines the intended relationship of.power to other beneficial uses <br />of water: <br /> <br />"Both agencies (the Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of <br />Reclamation) recognize the importance of the fullest development <br />of the potential hydroelectric power in the basin consistent <br />with other beneficial uses of water." <br /> <br />Our operation of the main stem reservoir system has been fully in accord <br />with this stated objective. l:e in the Missouri River Division are fully aHare <br />of the impClrtalJ~e of po"er in the Missouri Riv(!r Basin. Close coordination <br />has been established and maintained with all applicable offices of the Bureau <br />of Recl~atioll and other agencies, and every effort is being made, including <br />pioneer use of electronic computers in planning reservoir and power o~eration, <br />to insure maxi,.ml!! practicable pm-IeI' benefits. The success of this effort is <br />documented by the increase in annual power generation at the main stem plants <br />from 0.6 billion kiloHatt hours in 1953 to 3.8 billion kilowatt hours in 1959; <br />and by the operation of the r.nin ster.l reservoirs in such a manner that sub- <br />stantially all Hater released for all purppses is used and re-used through <br />the chain of main stem pm-Tel' plants. <br /> <br />In conclusion, I >Joule. like to eLOphasize that it is the vie'-1 of the <br />Corps of Engineers that the broad over-all objective of the 11issouri Basin <br />Program is to obtain the opt:.mum development ~"d utilization of the water <br />resources of the ltissouri River Basin to best serve the needs of all the <br />people. This means that max~um sustained pubEc benefits should be provided <br />considering all of the purposes that can be served by the projects. <br /> <br />D-3 <br /> <br />r <br />