CWB Correspondence Stone 1948

(1)

Confid ental

Judge Clifford H. utoneJ Director Colorado .ater Conserv tion Boord State Offioe Buildin~

Denver 2, Colorado Dear Juago ~tone1

Deceober 27~ 1948

l th~nk you for a copy of your very excellent comment~ ~der d te of Dece bar 22 to Lt. Col. Roy D. 'cOarty. This

~orn-1ng I bave letter .from

Hr.

J" .. D. Doherty, se1atant Chie'f' of

t e Vf 1oe of oynthetic L~nuld Fuels, dv1s1n· me tt.et t e Bureau

or

Jin o will be repro en ed at the e tin of t e s- erin com-itt e ln t 1 c ty on J nary 5 ond t at e open hat here 111

also be in ttendance representatives fro the Corps ot n~1neers. ia hould be a very enli~tenin" end import nt m ct1n •

I entioned to you over the telephone y I at this-time succinctly f et do

a y

;n a e o. tter hie

hen e dre ~en te Docu ent No. 0 .e ere encoura ed to b 11eve, I think proper!~, that any rov sions itb rererenoe to electrical t:nergy developed ould be vuf:f1cient to ar usa t e po er d1Mouasion to o point here the Oolorado-Bi Tnompson

pro-ject oul~ be del~yed or destro~ea end by reoson of necessity the policy in,thls re· a~t as not s t out. ~per1ence ses sho n that be lte involved power

or

the value of op rox10tltely vBO,OOO,OOO. s the yoorF> ent on, e·reoognlzed more def1nitaly

·tbe v~ ue oi' this item ond determined that ln the tutura e ould benefit by our experience. It

e

~, to

ma

that no is the time

o begin considering ~11 t. previously e did not kno ~.

ougl1ly speaking the value of tbe falling ter trans-ported from .eEtern Co~orado to est rn Colorado in the two diver-sion p oj c c under aiscus ion is p roxl tcly 260,00 ,000.

1 t ice this much but tbi fi ure 111 serYe for

dis-is h s nothin to do 1tb the u o

or

the uter exce

1

re

rop t at 1t t k e o

n

stern Slope.

d~op ll ¥ he bill for the p~oposed roJ ct

no

:t

1 op r nt tbot th ~oct e ot be1n atre ed bet the o e ter will in so o in tences be e 1

or

e lopln e u 1 power, in so e 1n t noe les£ po er nd in ome 1n t nce8 ore o er i f dropped in e tern volorado.

T e endro nt hich

in

lt

ond b1oh you did dra

err! ll and I ooulo not dra believe, auf io ent end 1

(2)

Judge Clifford Stone

Colorado ater Board -2- December 27, 1948

rely be

vtly

upon the words "nor increase in.cost at the expense of the water users within the nuturel basin." It is true that the most of the primary markEtthereor pre ently for this power is

in ~astern Colorado, but ~ith tbe shale ond cool in the picture this may not elwoys be truG nnd I do not ink it may casually be assumed that there 111 never be any uoe for this po er in a

possible radius from where it could be produced 1n •estern Colorado.

For example, I am told rel1abli t hat Anaconda Copper Comp~oy is

~oin~ to invest ~2,000,000 1n reopen1n the mlnin properties at As en. The uanJuan a~ea is an e~ually 1ntereetina situation.

•hen e drew benate Document No. 80 e talked about

replacement water and compensatory ~ater, end so for as I oan

discover the preuent plans ~ention only replacement ater. Is it possible that 260 000,000 worth of electric en rgy can be

taken from .estern Coiorsdo without increasing the ooC"t of' the

water users Nithin the na .. urol besin? I am as.um.inc irrespective

of the basis of the Dureeu of Reolomation report es compiled in

ito lend olasclf1cation that 1n the future ceny lovely mesas

con-sidered by the ~ureau too high and too remote from water ill be

1Tr1gate0. I t I had a subsidy of ~260,000,000, I could irrigate some or them myself.

Lince Eastern Colorado contemplates irrigation

or

lend by reason of the power developed and at the expense of the power developed, is it not just as reasonable to irrigate tbe lend in

•estern Colorado t the expense of power developed? Is ~estern

Colorado so rich 1n felling water that there can be puoked ott

y260,000,000 without increasing the cost ror water ~sers .ithin

the natural bo in'? For example, Mr. J'e:x asked me if the land

owner~ unoer tl1e Mount Garfteld projeot could afford to pay ..,10 per ore per year tor Hter and told me that unless they could

the Uount Garfield project lift from the eclcmation cnnel oould

not be constructed. If we had the 260,000,000 or e portion

there-of that picture ould be chen~ed. ·

It soome to be the idea

or

J.h'. Jex that he pres en .. diversion plans s ould include not only the lt'ryin(l! ... n Reservoir

ut alsu the Drid aport oaervo1r and that i t the brid o~ort

~ecervolr costs 34,000,000 to construct there oulu o 21,000,000 of po er compenont all of bleb · ould bo reoerv d ror estern

Colorado's irrigation subaidyL und 13,000,000 addeG to tbe eost

of the Blue-South Platte and uunnison-Arkenauo.

Perhaps 1n co ordineting this pro ram, ttis rnt~ht be the

best deal hioh could be consummated, but I am not presently seti.a fied the t 1 t is a good trace i'or .. estern Colorado to ~i ve up

•260,000,000 in aonsider tion of tbe pay ant of 21,000,000. As you know. everything ~hich comes to my hands in the way of report. in either conr1aent1al or restricted, bich means

(3)

Judge Cl1ttord Stone

Colorado water Uoard -)- December 27,

1948

in m, language that 1 can not disc . . lnate the information. I am toroed to wonder how maQJ ot our local citizens ould think I, who received the reports, had made a R004 trade ~r I give

up '260,000,000 in return tor •21,000,000 sad it muet be

under-stood that up to now we have aot been offered the $21,000,000. hen you ond I were 7ouns and inexperienced 1n

naehington there might bava been an excuse tor overlootlag

0₀_,000,00₀_of_po~er_{water but}

_in

_vie _{ot our eubaeqU.nt}

train-ing and experience ther' ia no cause to overlook 260,000,000 worth.

hen I returned ~rom the weah1D ton oonte enoe I

bou ht 1D Oaaba and paid tor itb . , own IIODeT a Buick a~o

mobile1 and hen l drov lt down the str~et . , trieDd Saa

J.lollulllD aoouaed ae with thia reiiBrk, "So that 1a t you

got ~or giTinS

awaJ

•estern Color1do•a water.•ou~

wee

irritated

beoause I had spent 87 own time and money itb compenaatiOD and helped to br1ns to ~••tern Colorado a reservoir worth

t5

₁000,000.

~hat wa I going to sa7 to looal people who ore m, c~~uenta

when 1 give awa1 260,000,000 ~orth ot talliD« water..-rgy 8D4

get nothing ln return tor it or onlT 421,000,000 1D return ~or

it. I do not kno how t&r electric energy can be oarr1e4 but

I

am lead to believe that it is planned to

carry eleatrio

power rroa Glen Canon to Cal1t rnia, which on the map look• like a long distance, end I am wondering it this Eastern Colorado power market could be suppl\ed rroa some points on the western Contin-ental Divide. In other ords 1~ we are golDg to 1rr1~ate ceatern

Colorado and develop it 1ndustr1allJ Should we not auba1d1ze the

expense upon the same basis as is contemplated by the dlverHion•

1st~. I do not reel that 70U or l should permit «estern Colorado'• birth right to be bartered tor a mesa of poUBge\

ith kindest regards, I ea

Youra verr truly,

S;./ctb

~1laon ~•it , Membe~

~oloredo ater ConserYBtion Boo 4