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to Port Isabel and environs. We pump and furnish water to about 50,000 acres: of irrigated farmlands, and furnish water to about 20,000 people for domestic purposes on the farms, and in the towns of Los Fresnos, Olmito, and Port Isabel, Tex. We all have no other source of water, except water which is retained in Falcon Dam and released to us in the channel of the Rio Grande River. It takes about 6 days from the time water is released from Falcon Dam for it to reach our pumping stations on the bank of the Rio Grande near Brownsville.

The farmers, whom I represent, almost all feel that Amistad Dam, as a flood control dam, is a necessity, and we sincerely hope it is built as a flood control dam to protect the cities and towns of Del Rio, Laredo, and the other cities and towns above Falcon Dam, on both the Mexican and the United States sides. But we also feel that conservation storage in Amistad Dam is not neces-sary, and we are seriously worried that this would endanger supplying water to us, we being 500 miles below Amistad Dam. Even with Falcon Dam we know we will have shortages from time to time, but we do not want Amistad Dam to increase that danger to us, which we feel it will do if it has conservation. storage.

We farmers down at the end of the river also realize that if Mexico insists on conservation storage, then the United States will have to put in conservation storage, but if this happens we beg of you to clearly provide by legislation that our supply of water in Falcon Dam shall not be less than we had before Amistad Dam was built. Otherwise, we farmers at the tail end of the river will have our livelihood seriously and adversely affected.

I, and all the farmers in the water districts to whom we furnish water, make our living by farming. Most of us would be called "small acreage farmers."We already have a problem from rising costs and taxes that makes it difficult each year for us to make "both ends meet." We do not know how in the world we could pay any part of the construction costs of the conservation storage in Amistad Dam; and we feel we should not be required to pay for something that we do not want.

On behalf of myself and the farmers and small towns for whom I speak, I respectfully request that this committee protect our interests, so that conservation storage is not included in Amistad Dam, unless required by Mexico building conservation storage therein; and if conservation storage is included,. that we farmer-water users below Falcon Dam not be required to pay any of the cost of the conservation storage; and that we be fully protected from Amistad Dam depleting the present amount of water that we receive annually in Falcon Dam.

STATEMENT OF H. C. FITZPATRICK, LOS FRESNOS, TEX., MEMBER OF THE BOard of DIRECTORS OF THE CAMERON COUNTY WATER IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT NO. 11 My name is H. C. Fitzpatrick. I am a landowner and farmer, and I am now and have been a member of the board of directors of Cameron County Water Improvement District No. 11 since 1947. This district was organized in 1928 and comprises 12,068 acres, of which 7,487 acres are actually receiving an allotment of water for irrigation purposes. This district has a present bonded indebtedness of approximately $112,000. The bond tax levied by the district to service the outstanding bonds is $1.80 per $100 valuation, the maintenance and operation tax levied to maintain canals, pumps, and other irrigation facilities is: $6 per acre and the charge for irrigation water is $2 per acre for each irrigation. In addition to these taxes, collected by the water district, there are State, county, and school taxes. These taxes when added to the costs of planting, cultivating, and harvesting, place a burden on the farmer and citrus grower which in times of low vegetable and citrus prices as we are presently experiencing can easily result in a loss to the grower. Any additional costs such as might be called for, if repayment of conservation storage in Amistad is required would simply make the farmers' economic position more precarious. In addition to increased labor, equipment, and material costs to the farmer, there is a steady diminishing of the dependable supply of water in the lower reaches of the Rio Grande. Based on 87 years of records, the annual average rainfall on the watershed of the Rio Grande above Falcon Dam, is approximately 18 inches. In years past, about 6 percent or a little over 1 inch of this rainfall reached the channel of the Rio Grande. Presently, only about 2 per

cent of such rainfall reaches the channel. Stated another way, there has been a reduction of two-thirds in the amount of rainfall which reaches the Rio Grande from its watershed above Falcon Dam. I am also reliably informed that a rainfall of 3 inches is required in order for any runoff to reach the Rio Grande Channel.

You may ask why this runoff figure has been so seriously diminished. The major reasons for the decreased runoff are farm conservation measures, more lands being put in cultivation, and increased construction of private lakes and ponds. There is available to the landowner, Federal governmental assistance, in defraying the costs of construction of tanks for impounding water, and the Legislature of the State of Texas has recently passed legislation allowing impounding of up to 200 acre-feet for domestic and livestock use. This impounded water can also be used for irrigation by applying for authority from the Texas Board of Water Engineers to so use it. All of these developments have necessarily lessened the supply of river water available to downstream users.

I have attempted as briefly as possible to present some of the problems faced by the farmer and landowner in our area below Falcon Dam. These are in summary-increased costs and a steady diminishing in the dependable supply of water to our area.

I thank you for allowing me the privilege of presenting this statement.

AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR AND CONGRESS
OF INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATIONS,
Washington, D.C., March 3, 1960.

Hon. ARMISTEAD I. SELDEN, Jr.,

Chairman, Subcommittee on Inter-American Affairs of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Washington, D.C.

DEAR CONGRESSMAN SELDEN: This letter is written to state the position of the AFL-CIO and of the Texas State AFL-CIO on legislation now being heard before your subcommittee to authorize the United States to participate with the Republic of Mexico in the joint construction of Diablo Dam on the Rio Grande River.

We are in general accord with the purposes of the bill and the need for construction of the project for the storage of water, for flood control, irrigation, generation of hydroelectric power and other beneficial uses. However, we oppose legislation to authorize the project as it is now written because of the inclusion of section 2 of the bill. This section would, in effect, give away control to a private utility of a valuable power resource which belongs to the people. If enacted, H.R. 8080 would seriously weaken Federal reclamation law and policy, which has been in existence for a half century, dealing with the marketing of power generated by Bureau projects.

You will recall that this type of proposal was made in 1955 when there was enacted into law legislation authorizing the construction of the Trinity project in the Central Valley of California. The law provided that the Secretary of the Interior was to report within 18 months to the Congress with recommendations as to whether the power facilities should be provided and operated by the Federal Government or by a privately operated electric utility, in this case the Pacific Gas & Electric Co. The issue of Trinity partnership was not resolved until legislation to implement the Secretary's report was finally rejected by the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee and the initial appropriation to install Federal power facilities was provided by the Congress last year.

In the President's budget for fiscal 1961, he has acknowledged defeat of his partnership policy at Trinity by requesting $10 million to carry forward construction of the Trinity power facilities as part of an all Federal project.

The proposal to lease the falling water to a private utility under H.R. 8080 would produce the same effect in this area of Texas as Trinity partnership would have in Central Valley, Calif. It would place a private utility in complete control of both the generation, marketing and price of power from a public project. The value of this power is in excess of $1 million annually. As such, we repeat, it would be an undesirable precedent undermining national policy dealing with the marketing of Bureau reclamation power which has been supported by both political parties, since 1906.

Section 2 contains a provision which would give the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House and Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate the power

of final decision on any such proposed contract to lease the falling water at Diablo Dam to a privately owned utility.

We oppose this language as foreclosing full and searching debate by both Houses of Congress. This is particularly desirable with respect to this legislation which proposes to establish an important policy precedent which will have serious implications on our entire reclamation policy.

We, therefore, urge that section 2 of this bill be stricken and in its place an amendment inserted to provide that the U.S. portion of the power facilities at Diablo Dam be constructed, financed and operated by the Bureau of Reclamation under provision of the Reclamation Act, as amended, dealing with the marketing of power.

If this amendment is made, the AFL-CIO and the Texas State AFL-CIO will support and work for the early passage of this legislation leading to construction of the Diablo project.

Respectfully yours,

ANDREW J. BIEMILLER,

Hon. ARMISTEAD SELDEN,

Director, Department of Legislation.

WEST TEXAS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE,
Abilene, Tex., March 5, 1960.

Chairman, Subcommittee on Foreign Affairs for Inter-American Affairs, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.

DEAR CONGRESSMAN SELDEN: We wish to register our strongest support for the construction of the Amistad Dam on the Rio Grande for the protection of life and property from the floodwaters of that watershed.

It is our belief that the record amply reflects a need for this project and an obligation for our Government to undertake this construction in accordance with our treaty with Mexico.

If water for the production of hydroelectric power is made available or if power is produced by the facilities installed in this project, we urgently recommend that the water or the power be made available for sale to the highest bidder.

Yours very truly,

FRED H. HUSBANDS, Executive Vice President.

AMISTAD DAM AND RESERVOIR

FRIDAY, MARCH 18, 1960

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTER-AMERICAN AFFAIRS,

Washington, D.C. The Subcommittee on Inter-American Affairs met at 2 p.m., in room 1304, New House Office Building, Hon. Armistead I. Selden, Jr. (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.

Also present were Hon. O. C. Fisher, a Representative in Congress from the State of Texas, and Hon. Joe M. Kilgore, a Representative in Congress from the State of Texas.

Mr. SELDEN. The subcommittee will come to order, please.

Today we will complete the series of open hearings which began on February 8 on the Amistad Dam project, with specific references to the bill H.R. 8080.

During an earlier session representatives of the rural electric cooperatives requested they be allowed to present additional material respecting the proposed dam construction after they had had an opportunity to discuss the testimony of the other witnesses.

Today we will hear two representatives of the rural electric cooperatives, and we will also have a statement from the president of Central Power & Light Co. of Texas.

Our first witness this afternoon will be Mr. Thomas Hurd, general manager of the Rio Grande Electric Cooperative of Brackettville, Tex.

Mr. Hurd, will you come forward, please.

STATEMENT OF THOMAS J. HURD, GENERAL MANAGER, RIO GRANDE ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE, INC., BRACKETTVILLE, TEX.

Mr. HURD. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, my name is Thomas J. Hurd. I am general manager of the Rio Grande Electric Cooperative, Inc., with headquarters in Brackettville, Tex. I was employed as the cooperative's first general manager September 20, 1947, and have served in that capacity since that date. The Rio Grande Electrict Cooperative renders electric service to about 46,000 square miles of rural areas in the extreme western and southwest portions of Texas. The cooperative's area extends along the Rio Grande for somewhere in the neighborhood of 730 miles, starting at a point 40 or 50 miles north of Laredo and extending northwest to the El Paso County line. The cooperative's service area includes all or a part of 18 different west Texas counties and a portion of two counties in New Mexico.

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In my capacity, one of my basic responsibilities is to keep informed of present and future activities within the areas served by the cooperative and to evaluate these activities as to how they will affect the cooperative and its operations.

This statement made by me on behalf of the Rio Grande Electric Cooperative is in full support of the immediate construction of the Amistad Dam and for the inclusion of Government-owned generating facilities.

The construction of the Amistad Dam without further delay is imperative as a medium toward minimizing the loss of life and damage to personal property resulting from ravaging floods along the Rio Grande between the proposed Amistad Dam and Falcon Dam below Laredo, Tex. The cooperative's support of Government-owned generating facilities in connection with the Amistad Dam is based on the generally accepted belief or opinion that the area from the proposed dam site northwest to El Paso is on the edge of an area of growth and expansion of industrial and agricultural activities.

It is not uncommon within the area concerned to hear the statement that this country will have to grow as it is the only part of Texas not already developed.

Naturally, such developments will require adequate electric service and power. Unfortunately, the area between the Amistad Dam site and El Paso has no major generating facilities at the present time. Further, the area is not covered by an integrated transmission system but, to the contrary, is served from the tail ends of transmission lines, with one exception of private utility companies serving areas adjacent to the area under consideration, this area being better known as the Big Bend area of Texas. Up to date electric service has been adequate in the area, but definite indications crop up each day which show that the area has started to grow.

One example is the Big Bend National Park, which comprises slightly under 1 million acres of land area and is located at the lowermost portion of the Big Bend area. At the present time the park is adequately served and, based on projected growth, power will be available in adequate quantities for the next 15 years. This refers to the Big Bend Park only. The adjacent areas to the park entrances will naturally build up with fringe activities such as tourist centers and accommodations. As the Big Bend Park is a year-round attraction, there is no way to determine the extent of growth around the borders of the park.

Of recent years, activities in oil production have increased immensely in three different areas within the Big Bend area. These oil and gas fields are continuing to expand and their electrical requirements will naturally increase as the fields are further developed.

These are several irrigation projects within the area that will require electricity for operation of electric irrigation pump systems. These areas represent the most rapid need for and the most extensive use of electric energy. Irrigation, coupled with oil production activities and recreational requirements in the area, along with the resuitant population increase, represent electric energy requirements far in excess of what is now available through presently installed generating facilities.

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