seek the port upon assurance of adequate depth. Savings are estimated to total $726,000 for the main harbor and $40,000 for the Quinnipiac.

The ratio of estimated annual costs to annual savings is 1 to 5.3 for the main harbor improvements and 1 to 3.3 for the Quinnipiac River improvements.

Mr. PETERSON of Georgia. That is a very good showing.

Colonel FERINGA. It is a very high showing, and probably is brought about by the fact that it is a prosperous harbor and its additional depth will make it even more popular, and it serves a large trade area. Also, sometimes district engineers in making their reports endeavor to make as large a showing as possible, whereas in other cases very frequently they feel that inasmuch as a favorable ratio has been established, why go any further?

In accordance with existing law reports were sent to the Governor. He was in favor of the project; and the Budget Bureau had no comment to offer thereon.

That completes New Haven Harbor.

Mr. GEELAN. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Arthur Gosselin, of New Haven, chairman of the Port Survey Commission of the State of Connecticut, would like to be heard briefly on this project.

STATEMENT OF ARTHUR H. GOSSELIN, CHAIRMAN, PORT SURVEY COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT, NEW HAVEN, CONN.

Mr. GOSSELIN. In connection with this spoilage, there is going to be developed 464 acres of new land and it is proposed that there will be spent about $9,000,000 by local interests. On the east side of the harbor the oil companies there are going to expand their facilities as soon as the 35-foot channel is authorized, and there will be spent $3,000,000 in connection with that. They do not have deep water facilities at present and they propose to develop back in here [indicating on map] oil terminals using this pier in connection with one of the other oil companies to get the oil back to their area.

Then we have another area of approximately 300 acres that will be developed from the spoil; and in West Haven, Conn., we have 119 acres developed with the spoil from the harbor. That, we estimate, will bring in approximately $15,000,000.

So we feel that this project is a very worth-while one and one that is going to be very beneficial to about 85 percent of the people of the State.

Mr. PETERSON of Georgia. I understand that this new land that is to be built up from the spoil

Mr. GOSSELIN. They are going to bulkhead it.

Mr. PETERSON of Georgia. Does that belong to the Government, then?

Mr. GOSSELIN. I was just going to mention the fact that the State of Connecticut at the last general assembly, created the Connecticut Port Survey Commission to investigate all navigable waters of the State as to what benefits would be given to the people by the development of those waters, and there is a possibility of creating a port authority that would have the right to issue bonds to create these developments, and they would belong to the State.

Mr. PETERSON of Georgia. This land is being built up on account of the soil that is being dredged out of the channel?

Mr. GOSSELIN. Yes, sir. There is a foot of water in here [indicating on map], and the railroad owns the ferrying rights. The New Haven has the second largest freight terminal yard in the United States, where they can handle 15,000 cars a day; and had this water been deepened to 30 feet back in 1939 we would have had an excellent port where there was no congestion, where they could come in with four railroads via Springfield into New Haven where the cars could be handled very easily. Previously they told us we would have to have a terminal. We now have one that runs around one and a quarter million dollars. There will be other facilities developed all along through here [indicating on map]. The State is very much interested in all of these areas and facts are being brought out. Bridgeport has. the lowest oil storage of any place on the New England coast. They rank twenty-seventh in the United States industrially, and they were in pretty bad shape during the last war. They were down to 2 days of oil supply in Bridgeport, and it might have shut down the entire city had they not been able to get oil in there, whereas if they had the proper tankage there that could not have happened to them.

The CHAIRMAN. That is all petroleum products, is it not? There is no crude oil there? No oil is refined there?

Mr. GOSSELIN. No, sir. Whether these oil companies propose to do that or not I do not know. I know that one proposes to build a plant, but I do not know what type of plant it is going to be. The State is trying to do its part to take care of the unemployment situation. The improvemen will bring an additional pay roll between $3,000,000 and $4,000,000 and will give employment to a great many people.

The CHAIRMAN. During the war, when I with others was trying to work out plans to get gasoline for the eastern seaboard, when tankers could not operate, the fact developed that quite a lot of people were using kerosene for fuel in that section of the country. Is that the case now?

Mr. GOSSELIN. No, it is not. There was a lot of kerosene came in, but there is not much today.

The CHAIRMAN. In Massachusetts there was more kerosene?

Mr. GOSSELIN. I know they used to transport some kerosene from Albany down to Connecticut.

The CHAIRMAN. Are there any pipe lines opening there?

Mr. GOSSELIN. There is one that runs from Frovidence to Springfield, but there is none at New Haven at the present time. I am not familiar with the plans of the oil companies as to whether they propose one or not.

Mr. GEELAN. In response to the question by Mr. Peterson of Georgia as to who would own this created land. The fact is that that land is now marshland, is it not?

Mr. GOSSELIN. Yes.

Mr. GEELAN. And it is now the property of the State or the municipality?

Mr. GOSSELIN. Some of it in the upper Middletown section belongs to the State. It was taken over by foreclosure because of nonpayment of taxes. The land is absolutely worthless at the present time.

Mr. GEELAN. What will result by the filling in of these marshland areas will be the creation of firm land, and the same thing would take

place here as takes place in other places in the United States. When land is filled the land becomes the property of the State or the municipality?

Mr. GOSSELIN. That is correct. We have a lot of mud that has got to go out some place, and they will pump it up into this area [indicating] and it will take about 3 years to settle and develop. They used sand down in West Haven.

The CHAIRMAN. How much land would be made firm?

Mr. GOSSELIN. About 1,200 acres. There is about 11,100,000 cubic yards of fill to be taken out.

The objection that was brought up by the late Senator Maloney has been overcome, and the New Haven Gas Co. is perfectly satisfied. The CHAIRMAN. There is no objection to it from them?

Mr. GOSSELIN. No, sir; and the New Haven Railroad is very much in favor of the development.

Mr. GEELAN. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Knappen also wanted to be heard briefly on this project.

STATEMENT OF THEODORE KNAPPEN, REPRESENTING THE AMERICAN MERCHANT MARINE INSTITUTE

Mr. KNAPPEN. The American Merchant Marine Institute represents the majority of the ocean ship operators of the United States. The American Merchant Marine would like to see the channel in this harbor deepened to 35 feet, principally to accommodate the large tankers which have been developed during the war and which are now being put in operation to move petroleum products from the Gulf area to the Eastern seaboard.

In this particular case we have already spoken at the hearing for this project and I am also here for the Portland project. The direct benefits, we have shown, would be very large and would justify this work.

We would also like to point out that in addition to these direct benefits which come from the utilization of these tankers which have already been built, it is possible to build these T-2 tankers and use them, because most of the ports of the United States have 34 and 35 foot depths; that is, most of the major ports; and other ports that have around 30 feet have sufficient tide to permit the tankers to come in at high water.

The benefits which will accrue in many of these cases are only the benefits which will come by not having to wait for tides and the elimination of delay, but possibly in some cases there will be the utilization of the full capacity of these tankers. That is a benefit which is now working to the benefit of the entire country in that these larger tankers now represent an annual saving of somewhere in the neighborhood of $10,000,000 a year in the movement of petroleum products from the Gulf coast to the East coast of the United States.

I would like to further point out that the general establishment of 35-foot ports on the East coast and 36-foot ports on the Gulf coast will permit future development of more economical units and will give, in addition to the direct benefits in each case, indirect benefits which generally are at least as great as and sometimes many times greater than the direct benefits which will follow.

Mr. AUCHINCLOSS. You have made an excellent statement.

Mr. KNAPPEN. I thank you, sir.

Mr. GEELAN. I would like to call attention to the fact that since May 18, 1942, by reason of the inability to secure tankers to operate safely in the open sea, all the coal and oil moving into New England came by rail or by pipe line. The difference in the cost between shipments by rail and pipe line, which had to be resorted to, and transportation by water was made up by what was called a compensatory adjustment program. In other words, the shippers, in order to hold the consumer price down, were paid the difference between what they would have to pay for shipment by water and what they were forced to pay for shipment by rail. That program will be in effect until June 30 of this year, at least, with the very great possibility that it will be continued in dollars and cents up until March.

That sum of money for New England ports, New York, and Philadeplphia amounted to $55,000,000 for coal alone, and in New Haven Harbor that sum was $5,000,000.

These ships that are used for coal cannot negotiate these harbors successfully with the present depths. It is necessary, therefore, to deepen the harbors and continue this compensatory program.

I ask unanimous consent that the other members of the delegation be permitted to insert in the record any statement they may care to make concerning these projects.

I thank the Chairman and the members for permitting us to go on at this time.

The CHAIRMAN. We will take a recess until 2 o'clock.

(Whereupon, at 12:45 o'clock p. m., a recess was taken until 2 o'clock p. m. of the same day.)

AFTER RECESS

The Committee reconvened at 2 p. m., the Honorable Joseph J. Mansfield, Chairman, presiding.

The CHAIRMAN. Suppose we go ahead with Fall River.

STATEMENT OF COL. P. A. FERINGA, RESIDENT MEMBER OF THE BOARD FOR RIVERS AND HARBORS

Colonel FERINGA. Yes, sir.

FALL RIVER HARBOR, MASSACHUSETTS

Colonel FERINGA. The report on this project is in response to a resolution of the Rivers and Harbors Committee of the House, adopted October 19, 1943. It is also in response to an item in the River and Harbor Act approved March 2, 1945.

Fall River Harbor is in southeastern Massachusetts 20 miles southeast of Providence Harbor and 13 miles northwest of New Bedford Harbor. It comprises the mouth of Taunton River and the head and east side of Mount Hope Bay and has a total length of 6 miles and widths decreasing from 212 miles in the bay to 1,000 feet at the head. The improvement authorized by Congress provides for a channel 30 feet deep and 400 feet wide through Mount Hope Bay and Fall River Harbor to the oil wharves above the bridges with increased width opposite the wharves below Slades Ferry Bridge.

Commerce at the harbor averages over 1,900,000 tons annually for the ten years prior to the war. During the years 1938 to 1941, coal, coke, and petroleum products constituted 98 percent of the total commerce which was transported in ships drawing up to 30 feet.

The city of Fall River with a population of 115,400 is an important manufacturing center. The principal products are cotton goods, rubber products, refractories, gas ranges, brass, bronze and silver products. The city is the tidewater terminus of a 9,000-barrel per day petroleum pipe line serving the Boston metropolitan and other districts petroleum products transported to Fall River in tankers.

The Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors concludes that by replacing the lower 15,000 feet, that part in yellow as shown on the map would be replaced by the part in red of the existing channel by a new channel adjacent to the lower east shore, and by the provision of a turning basin above the bridges, commercial development of the lower harbor would be stimulated where substantial frontage is available.

Oil companies request access channels of the same depth, 35 feet,. from the main channel to the natural deep water pools in the vicinity of their piers, or in lieu thereof a new 35-foot channel over the Fall River-Tiverton water front.

The Board concludes that by replacing the lower 15,000 feet of the existing channel by a new channel adjacent to the lower east shore and the provision of a turning basin above the bridges, commercial development of the lower harbor would be stimulated where substantial frontage is available.

Accordingly, the Board recommends modification of the existing project for Fall River Harbor, Mass., to provide (1) for abandonment of the existing 30-foot channel extending from deep water in Mount Hope Bay to the bend opposite Globe Wharf, a distance of approximately 15,000 feet; (2) a main channel 35 feet deep at mean low water, 400 feet wide adjacent to the water front, from deep water west of Common Fence Point through Mount Hope Bay and Fall River Harbor to the wharves above the bridges, with increased width at the bend on the approach below Slades Ferry Bridge, and a turning. basin 35 feet deep, about 1,100 feet wide and 850 feet long, above the bridge between the Shell and Mountaup wharves.

The Chief of Engineers concurs in the views and recommendations of the Board.

The CHAIRMAN. Colonel, you have a straight channel there from Tiverton, do you not?

Colonel FERINGA. That is right, sir. If that was a through route, we probably would not recommend a change. However, here you are faced with a situation where a thriving port is handicapped because it cannot use all the frontage that is available.

They are crowded out of frontage here [indicating]. They have natural deep water along here, and they want to bring the channel. closer to the wharves which have been and are to be provided, in order to be able to develop this territory here.

It would lengthen the haul from the point where the two channels would intersect to this point, but the advantage of opening up this additional territory is manifest.

Mr. DONDERO. Would the yellow portion shown on the map be discontinued?