(April 19, 1946)

STATEMENT OF HON. CHARLES R. ROBERTSON, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA

Mr. ROBERTSON. I want to offer a statement for the record on the Missouri River Basin, and I will give my statement to the reporter. Flood waters uncontrolled constitute nature's most destructive force; but when impounded and regulated they are her most precious gift to man.

The Seventy-eighth Congress approved, and partly authorized, a most far-reaching program for developing a major river basin when it enacted the 1944 Flood Control Act containing the Army engineers-Bureau of Reclamation coordinated and comprehensive plan for the control of the Missouri River flood waters, and for the development of its entire basin. This plan provides a new approach to problems in a program for the greatest utilization of all the natural resources in an area one-sixth the size of the entire United States. All the work contemplated under the plan will be accomplished by existing Federal agencies working in close cooperation with State and local interests.

The initial stages of this river basin development program were given limited authorization concurrently with their approval. These dollar-value authorizations have now been reached or exceeded. In order to proceed as expeditiously as possible it appears necessary that the over-all program be fully authorized or that present authorizations be materially increased at this time. Only in that way can this gigantic development program, directly affecting the economy of 10 basin States, and indirectly affecting the welfare of the Nation, be carried forward as contemplated by the plan.

The representatives of both the Army engineers and of the Bureau of Reclamation who appeared before our committee showed the pressing need for additional authorizations in order to properly proceed with the program. Both the engineers and the Bureau suggested that dollar-value authorizations for their work be materially increased and they furnished ample justification for such requests.

Although I am greatly interested in each and every one of the many projects mentioned in the basin-wide plan, I am, naturally, especially interested in and concerned with the several developments proposed for my own State. Additional authorizations for the approved plan, as suggested by the two Federal agencies mentioned, will enable work to continue without interruption on a number of projects in North Dakota included in the initial stages. Among them are the Garrison Dam and Reservoir and appurtenant works, Heart Butte Reservoir, Dickinson Reservoir, Knife River improvements, Missouri River pumping units, and Missouri-Souris (North Dakota division): Grenora pumping plant, Souris Canal, Crosby Reservoir, Des Lacs power plant, Des Lacs Reservoir, Devils Lake Canal, Devils Lake lateral, Sheyenne River Reservoir, James River feeder canal, James River Reservoir, Jamestown unit canal, Oakes pumping plant.

Irrigation, power, municipal and industrial water supplies, recreation, flood and silt control are much needed and important benefits to be derived from the foregoing projects.

Mr. Chairman, it is my most earnest and sincere plea that the additional authorizations requested by the Army engineers and Bureau of Reclamation be recommended by our committee. The completion of this long-range program will ultimately mean the stabilization of a fluctuating economy to a greater degree than any other factor could accomplish in the affected areas. Again I urge our favorable action on this matter.

There is one other item, Mr. Chairman, which I hope our committee will view with favor. That is the authorization of local protection works for Mandan, N. Dak., as recommended in House Document No. 294, Seventy-ninth Congress.

This proposed project is designed to protect the city of Mandan from floods on the Heart River. The suggested plan of the protection works has twice been approved by the North Dakota State Water Conservation Commission, of which agency the Governor of that State is the chairman. It also has the approval of the local interests in the city of Mandan.

Floods from spring run-offs and early summer rains have menaced Mandan and surrounding community since their earliest history. Considerable funds, Federal, State, and local, have been expended in the past for levees and other protection works, all of which have proved inadequate.

The most recent flood at Mandan occurred in 1943 when the city experienced a very high water stage resulting in very heavy damages to property and improvements, and also loss of life. I am very familiar with these recurring floods at Mandan, as I once was in business there, and even now my home, in Bismarck, is only 6 miles from that city.

The Army engineers' report on this project, contained in House Document 294, Seventy-ninth Congress, describes the conditions and local situation in detail, and I feel I would be imposing upon this committee were I to repeat the details here. Suffice it to say that the engineers have recommended the project as feasible and economically justified. Local interests have indicated their willingness to furnish necessary cooperation. The project is before our committee for approval and authorization, and I sincerely hope that our committee will act favorably thereon.

(April 11, 1946-continued)

The CHAIRMAN. We will now take up the general basin authorization.

MISSOURI RIVER BASIN, ARKANSAS AND MISSOURI

General PICK. I would like to make a general statement as to the status on development under the comprehensive plan on developing the Missouri River as contained in the Flood Control Act of 1944. The CHAIRMAN. You may proceed.

General PICK. Under the authority of the 1944 Flood Control Act the Corps of Engineers is charged with construction and operation of five dams on the main river, numerous dams on the major tributaries, and the construction of a levee line from Sioux City, Iowa, to the mouth of the Missouri River near St. Louis.

In the 1944 Flood Control Act we were given an authorization of $200,000,000 to start work there in the Missouri Valley. Under that authorization Congress has made an appropriation of about $8,000,000 in the First Deficiency Act of 1946. There is now pending before a conference committee the War Department Civil Functions Appropriation Act which, as passed by the Senate, carries some $23,000,000. If the bill is enacted in its present form, then there will be available to the Corps of Engineers approximately $31,000,000 to be spent under the 1944 Flood Control Act for developing the Missouri River Basin for flood control and other purposes.

Mr. ALLEN. You are speaking now of the levee projects between Sioux City and Kansas City?

General PICK. Not exclusively, sir; I am talking about the projects in the whole basin.

We have selected for construction certain projects under the authority now available and they will be placed under construction this year provided funds are made available. The key reservoir on the main river is the Garrison Reservoir in North Dakota. The deficiency bill passed in December of 1945 carried $2,000,000 for that project. It also carried funds for local protection works at Kansas City, local protection works at Omaha, Nebr., and Council Bluffs, Iowa, and funds for resuming work on Kanopolis Reservoir in Kansas.

For the committee's information, the first project to get under way under the new over-all authorization for the Missouri Valley was started on the 21st of March at Kansas City when work was started on the construction of a flood wall to protect the central industrial district of Kansas City. Shortly thereafter a contract was signed for resumption of work on the Kanopolis Dam. That work will get under way in just a few days.

In the last 2 weeks we have received bids for an access railroad to the Garrison Dam and an access highway to the Garrison Dam, and the contracts will be let in the next few days on both of those projects. In addition to that, we have sufficient funds provided by the deficiency bill of last fall to start work on local protection works at Omaha, Nebr., and Council Bluffs. We have $500,000 for each of those projects. In addition to that we have funds which will permit. us to award a contract about the middle of this month for two and one-half miles of levee to protect the northern part of Kansas City, which includes the municipal airport at Kansas City. That will take up and obligate all the funds which we received under the deficiency appropriation bill.

Our advance planning has gone forward to the point where we can obligate all of the funds included in the 1947 appropriation bill now before Congress. We can obligate all of those funds early in the con-struction season this year. We will start construction of the Fort Randall Dam in South Dakota. We will start construction on the Cherry Creek Reservoir in Colorado. We will start work on the Harlan County Dam in Nebraska. We will start and complete some sections of the local protection works at Kansas City. We will be able to begin two additional units there and do some work on the making of the Liberty Bend cut-off. We will have sufficient funds to complete about half of the local proctection works at Omaha, Nebr., and Council Bluffs, Iowa. In addition to that we will have some funds

available for doing some bank protection work in the main river up above Sioux City at Kensler Bend. We will have sufficient funds to carry on our planning work for the levees for Sioux City down to the mouth of the Missouri River. We will not have any construction funds this year for that but we will have sufficient funds to carry on the planning so that we will be in shape to carry on some of that work next year, providing funds are available.

The CHAIRMAN. There has been no appropriation thus far made for the initiation of the Osceola Reservoir?

General PICK. No, sir; no funds have been made available for it.

The CHAIRMAN. On the Grand River is there an authorized or approved project?

General PICK. There is an authorized project. The Chillicothe Dam is authorized, but we have a review report on the Grand River which proposes the substitution of the Hickory and Pattonsburg Dams for Chillicothe Dam.

The CHAIRMAN. That report has not been submitted?

General PICK. No, sir; that report has not yet been submitted to Congress. It has been submitted to the Governor for comment as required by law.

The CHAIRMAN. Is there an authorized project presently for any other improvements along the Grand River? There is a problem down there on that stream of endangering highways as the result of erosion. I am wondering, Mr. Schwabe, at this time if you would like to ask the general any questions with respect to that matter which you brought to the attention of the committee.

Mr. SCHWABE. That is on the lower Grand. I would like General Crawford to tell you about it.

General CRAWFORD. As I understand it, the problem there is one of bank erosion which is threatening the highways and the bridges in the State. There is no project for that work on the lower Grand River authorized at this time.

The CHAIRMAN. Under the act of 1944, am I correct in saying that we included an authorization for the protection of highways in such cases?

General CRAWFORD. Yes, sir; section 12 of that act authorized $500,000 to be appropriated as an emergency fund to be expended under the direction of the Secretary of War and the supervision of the Chief of Engineers for the construction of emergency bank protection works to prevent flood damage to highways, bridge approaches and public works.

The CHAIRMAN. I will ask you this question, General Crawford. Has the entire amount of $500,000 authorized been appropriated and allocated?

General CRAWFORD. It has been practically all allocated.

The CHAIRMAN. So, for this problem there along the Grand River and similar problems elsewhere, the solution would be an additional authorization?

General CRAWFORD. Yes, sir. Of course, it must be understood that such a project must meet the requirements that highways or bridges or other public works are threatened by flood damage or

erosion.

The CHAIRMAN. Any further questions along that line, Mr. Schwabe?

Mr. SCHWABE. No, sir.

Mr. CASE. The Appropriations Committee denied the Budget estimate for appropriations for the Chillicothe Reservoir in the civil functions bill this year, and they did it on the strong representation from the representative of the district, on the material that was filed, that it was not desired. I just noticed that General Pick said an alternative plan is being prepared for this Hickory Reservoir. Will that take the place of the Chillicothe Reservoir?

General PICK. Yes, sir. The Pattonsburg Reservoir is also part of the substitute plan.

Mr. CASE. We have a pretty elaborate brief from the citizens of Hickory objecting to being obliterated, and so forth.

The CHAIRMAN. You do not have any monopoly on that, because I do not know of any dam constructed anywhere that we have not heard from folks above the dam. Those two dams are no exceptions. Mr. SCHWABE. The people around that area are opposed to it but the people on the lower grand are very much in favor of it.

The CHAIRMAN. General Pick, you may proceed.

General PICK. The completion of the program of work which I have outlined for this year which will be undertaken with the funds that we have in hand and in the civil-functions bill will exceed our authorization of $216,000,000.

The projects we have selected under the present authorizations are: Kanopolis Reservoir, estimated to cost $11,600,000; Omaha, Nebr., $4,700,000; Council Bluffs, $1,900,000; the Garrison Reservoir, $158,000,000.

The CHAIRMAN. What is the total estimated cost of those projects? General PICK. That is $176,200,000.

The CHAIRMAN. What do you recommend as a minimum increased authorization for the Missouri River Basin?

General PICK. We have the plan set up now to start the Harlan County Reservoir, and funds for it are in the civil-functions bill. This project will cost $33,000,000. Our early construction program also includes starting the levees on the main river, about $6,700,000. That makes a total of $216,000,000, which is the entire amount of our present authorization.

The CHAIRMAN. That is for the Missouri River Basin?
General PICK. That is the Missouri River Basin.

Now, then, in addition to that, if we start the Fort Randall Dam this year, which we hope to do, and for which funds are in the civil-functions bill, there will be an addition of $93,750,000. So, we are committed in excess of our authorization. That will not allow us to take on any new work next year within present authority.

Now there are some projects which we are ready to start, and some that we hope to be ready to start, and would like to start next year, if the authorization is increased.

The CHAIRMAN. Will you name them, please?

General PICK. I would like to start the Gavin's Point Reservoir in South Dakota. I would like to start the Pomme de Terre Reservoir in Missouri. I would like to start work on the Oahe Reservoir in South Dakota and one or two other reservoirs in the approved plan.

Now, in addition to that, I would like to continue work on the agricultural levees along the main river.