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601110 Gunnison County Electric Cel~h:rates Twenty-Third Year Of Rural Service Anton Danni, _ Harvey S. Lobdell and J. H. Sanders. Elected officials ot the new - born rural electric association in 1938 were President W. Richard Walker, Vice President MrS.. Hannah S. Shackleiord, and of course, Secy.-Treas. Mrs. Janet M. Allen. First manager of the organi- zation, V. A. Morgan, now resides in Seattle, Wash. What are those first directors doing 23 years later? Walker, the first president who op- erated a dairy farm in those days, still does some ranching at the same place north of Gunnison. He is quite active in county and community affairs. Mrs. Dickerson owns and operates a small resort on the Gunnison River just west of the city. Her property will undoubtedly be covered by water when the Blue Mesa dam of the Curecanti Unit of the Upper Colorado River Star- age'project is completed in 1965-66. Mrs. Shackleford, another civic lead~ er, lives with her retired husband, J. J, Shackleford, in Gunnison. Anton Dan- ni, a long-time rancher located on the East River bew.reen Almont and Crest- ed Butte, leaves most of the ranching nowadays to his son, Joe. However, he too continues to serve the county in many ways. the most important of which is the elected job of County Com- missioner from that district. He has been re.elected so often by the voters that even he Isn't sure of the exact number of years. It is about 16. Harvey S. Lobdell, who has retired from. ranching in the Parlin area east of Gunnison, is known locally as the man who can do almost anything that must be done. Well, versed in com- munity affairs, he successfully com- pletes any task he undertakes. He has just finished a three-year term on the board of directors of the Gunnison County Chamber {If Commerce. Through his efforts greater cooperation has developed between ranchmen and business people. To name all the or- ganizations he has led or helped lead would be a story in itsi:lf. J. H. Sanders, the last member of the first board of directors of the GCEA and who lived at lola in those days, now is semi.retired but in season op. erates a sporting goods store in Gun- nison. Present manager of the Gunnison County Electric Assn. Inc., with offices in Crested Butte, Homer Duke, said the GCEA lines -were first energized Dec. 6,,1941, the day before Pearl Harbor. Power was furnished by the steam plant then operating in Crested Butte. There is quite a contrast in comp::!r- ing the first 12 months of operation with the 12 months in 1961. Originally there were 424 consumers, using 202,347 kwh over 12"3 miles of line. In_196l 973 consume~s used 2,696,807 kwh OVEr 415 miles of power line. Al- though the numher of consumers has increased only slightly double, actual consumption of electricity has multi- plied more than 13 times, showing more uses and more appliances in the rural homes. The Gunnison County Electric Assn., Inc., has grown with the times, and will continue to grow with leaders such as the first seven who m.olded it and gave it a ,push in_1938. Gunnison County Electric Assn. Inc. will celebrate. its 23rd birthday this Sf!ptember, and through those 23 years the same secretary-treasurer has faith- fully served the organization just as the organization h.as ser\~ed the rural popu- lation 01 the county. Mrs. Janet M. Allen, a rancher's wife, helped organize and establish the GCEA on Sept. 21, 1938. Today Mrs. Allen is just as active in civic affairs as she was then. Her husband, :Ralph R. Allen, is noted as one of Colorado's most efficient Hereford cattlemen and for many years has been a leader in the ranching bus- iness. The Allen's three sons also have thEir own brands in the Gunnison Country. In addition to Mrs. Allen, all the original members of the Board of Di- rectors make their homes in this area. The'y are 'W. Richard Walker, Ruth H. Dickerson, Mrs. Hannah Shackleford, i, Here is Why I' On February 20th Interior Secretary Ste\Vart Udclll announced an a{j'Tee,- ment on an Interconnected electric. power transmission system for the Colorodo RI,ver Storage ProJect. This system. involving the utilities of the area,' has been widely hailed os a fine cooperalive solullon to a controversial problem. We cannot share this enthusiasm. Those who have, endorsed this settlement system for the Project, includ- ing the general press. obviously hope that most people will be sotisfied to have "controversy" stilled, They s.eem 10 hope that people will forget the . plunder the utility combine hoped to extract from the -Basin Fund. . It Is Secretary. Udall's view that the settlement system is at least $400 million less costly to the Basin Fund and power purchasers thon the utility toll gate system. The utility combine. or ot least some of them, have been forced to admit some of the other millions in value from interconnections with the Project which they had hoped 10 get for nothing, Even so, the much-heralded settlement system is stlll iust a poper system resting on promises and not on tontracts and lines in place. This must yet be established. And how good are utility promises? Speaking for the Colorado River Basin consumer power systems, Marian Wilson sold: "Our llxperiencll over the year. whh the private power companies in the Colorado River Basin has taught us to be wory of their proposals. 1hllY ore not our friends. They do not believe In our continued existence." These restrained and reasoned words deserve oflention. Last y~ar, the utility combine made a "rock-bollom" offer to the DE- partment and to the Congress. The consumer power, systems strenuously obiecled, first alone and later wllh valuable help, to this toll gote system. The Congress rejected the utility relid. It endorsed and appropriated money for on all-federal common carrier yardstick system. Armed with this opprovol. the Secretary of Interior opened discussions with the "Utilities. No facts relative to the Project have changed. It involves Ihe same dams. the same powerplants, the same output and the same customers. No facts have changed on Interconnection va lUlls. The only chonge is thot the utility combine was caught with its hands In the public cookie, lorl was cought in 0 web of Its own duplicity. Sober agencies. such as the Colorodo Watllr Consllrvolion Board, checked the utility. "facts and figures" ond found Ihem to be just os distorted and misleading as we had sold they were. So when the Congren rejected their proposed raiding sysJem. the utlflty combine .faced the choice of shifting ground or seeing the supllrlor all-federol sys'em built, They shifted ground. It Is just thot simple. There Is no change of, heart. Interior was in a position to deell from strength. - The utility <;o""bine was behind because of lis reJected raiding system, yet now they are back in .the middle of the Project. ' We trust them no more now than we did lost year when they were propagandb:lng and trying to ram through their raiding system. We recall thot they sold It was a rock-bollom offer and one superior to the federal system. We also recall their sub rosa maneuverlngs by which the Upper Colorodo River Commission wos to. be led to on endorsement of the utility toll gate system, We see the same shill game at 0 new level. We see no reason to be. enthused by this maneuver. 1he ulillties "ore not our friends," Neither are they friends of the Deportment of Interior. It caused them ~o _concern to "qgrell" with Interior on February 20th an the Storage, ProJect power system and then try on the 28th 10 block 0 port of that ultimate system, It was easy for them to imply a "backdoor" interest In a steam plant on the pori of IMlIrlor even though they knew _that ste_am plant Was a part of the ogreed system. On the 28th, the Colorodo River Basin arm of the notionwlde utility combine lolned thlllr brethren In on aU-out anault.on REA generation and transmission loans. The oim of this assoult is to kill such plonts as the pro- posed Colorado-Ute steam plant. Yet !he Colorodo-Ute plant cannol be separated from the agreed, systeM:1 for the Storoge ProJect. It will add sub- stantial values to the ProJect's Basin Fund ond .soVe an appreciable invest. ment and this came from 0 voluntary offer. So. no controversy has been ended. We hove only (I tactical retreat by the utility combine on the one hand and 0 new frontal assault on the other. The big war has. not altered, The utility combine Is out to stop rural electric system progress. It is equally dedicated to stopping federal'common carrier yardstick lines. To the extent thotthe present se"lement systllm Is good, it is proof t~ot the original utility pltc~ wos unsound. It is also pro,of that someone must be around to do bottle a'golnst such Project.raiding systems os they proposed. This the consumer power group has done. Thi,s we-will continue 10 do. We are proud to have initiated and sustained a battle to prevent a multi-million dollor utility raid on the Colqrado River Storage Proiect and our customers. If we survive, ond the utilities "do not believe in our con- tinued e,dstence," we will continue our battle on beholf of sound reclamalion, yardstick lines, and all customer;. We hope we will have allies In this con_ !Inuing struggle. . Viewed in ,this light. It Is not controversy. Rather, it is an eSloblished American Institution called COMPETITION. This struggle over_ the Storage Project's power has again demonstrated the value of competition. Of this we need notle'ss but more. We have enlisted for the duration. ,. ,. , COLORADO RURAL ELECTRIC NEWS Val. 10, No, 6 March, 1962 Edltor-........"......H~ordE.SCott Monaging Editor ........lyle L.Morfne. Associate Editor ..........Terry MorIne. Editorial ond Business Office 802 Formers Union . Denver 3, Colorado Telephone 266-1077 PUBLISHED MQNTHL Y by theColo...do Slota R.....' Electric Associ..tlon ....r.I.ory, S,ot.,...l.r.nt, w. A. By.... F.ulia, Slot. Monago< Howonf~. S<Oll, r.l."hon" 266.1071, 802 I'orm... Union Bldg., 'M'Sh..oiionS!., 0."..r3, C.lo. 'ubll,<>t!on Commltt.", Wlh... Wilkin., Chorrmon, A~"'n, tow;, Rhood.., Yumo, C. C. DoUy, HIli......., j'kor =;':lo'!.:at"n=~I:mM~ ~n'...~~~~; 0"'" ~:~~ ~ 1~~teo~":.~opl~ .- o......pooctflcolly...dth..n'lN PO. CofOfCldo..ndtll."..lfon n....ll\'. ... lotI M......... pot ro... ao cen'.. Non_ ... yea" $1'.00. 'Odmo~" hI .oIng 3579 odd.... ta Coto"'''lo Ru.ol !/tctt . 802 Fo...... Ualall8tdg., D.nv.. J. CoIo. (.,...d.... Socon4 Ctoa M..tto< 0' Ih. I'oot om.. crt O.nrer, Cola.. ""H' oel of M..reh '.1179. SEVEN POWER COMPANIES ATTACK G&T.LOANS WASHINGTON, (NECA)-Top offi- cials of seven power _ compantes at- . tacked generation and transmission loans to rural electric cooperatives and the new security criterion for such loans in a lengthy public hearing this week on Capitol Hill. The companIes' attack was answered promptly and vigorously by Robert D. Partridge, legislative representative of the National Rural Electric Coopera~ t1ve Association. He was heard immedi- ately after the power company_ officials. The officials and Partridge had 'come before the Senate Agriculture Commit- tee to testify on a section of the omni~ bus farm bill for 1962. The section would set up an REA loan account tor electric and telephone loan funds. It turned out that wasn't really what the seven companies. Alabama Power Company, MissiSsippi POwer Company, Gulf Po-wer .Company, Georgia Power Company, Utah Power and Light Com- pany, Western Colorado Power Com- pany, and Public Service Company of Colorado, wanted to talk about. For nearly three haul'll, the company officials attacked generation and- trans- mission loans approved by REA for rural electric cooperatives, particu1ar~y those announced under the securHy criterion added last May by REA Ad- ministrator Norman M. Clatlp. Iii their testimony, the company of- ficials called the .security criterion ''no criterion at all." They charged REA and 'Clapp with "secrecy" in the handl- ing of G&T loans. They objected, as they have for many yean, to the 2 per CEnt interest rate on REA loans-. They offered jointly a crippling amend- ment to the farm bill section th\lt would set up an REA loan account, The amendment was suggested first by 'Walter Bouldin, president of Ala- bama Power Company. It would for- bid the REA Administrator to make a G&T loan "where there is an ade- quate supply of power available from investor-owned, In com e taxpaying sources at publicly regulated rates and conditions of service." It would also require the REA Ad_ ministrator to give public notice of G&T loan applications and .to hold hearings on such appllcations for inter- ested parties. Partridge answered the attack with_ out a prepared statement, speaking di- rectly to Senators Ellender and Prox_ mire, who presided during the hearing. "We are in almost complete disa_ greement with most of the statements which have ,been made- by the power company witnesses," he said. "These witnesses represent companies which have said since 1935 that the job" of rural electrification could not be done, and they' are still determined that it win-not be done." He also dealt in his testimony with the companies' attack on the 2 per cent interest rate and the charge of "secrecy" in the handling of G&T loans. "I would like to inquire where the power companies were when the. go",,_ ernment cost of money was far ,below the rate charged by REA on REA loans," he said. "This .was true until 1952. We heard nothing from them then. There was no cry that the REA inteNlst rate ought to be lowered, and yet today they are here saying that the rate certainly ought- to be, in- creased." Partridge also said that any power company willing to deal fairly with rural electric systems has no trouble in arriving at power contracts; and he pointed out that the REA Administrator requires rural electdcs to obtain .first the best offera of. other suppliers be- fore a G&T loan is made. "What we object to, and we object strenuously, is to the idea of having our business made public to the pl:lwer companies before a loan is made," he . said. "We feel that it is like asking us to make a bid and at the same_ time letting ail others make their bids after they have seen ours, and this we ob_ jectto." .-t:: ..~-