Remarks at Lions Club Meeting at Kingman, Arizona

Document: "Remarks at Lions Club Meeting At Kingman, Arizona; November 19, 1957, on the Colorado River Matter", November 19, 1957, page 4After the Los Angeles application was filed, the State of Arizona protested against it and acting through the State Power Authority, moved to build Bridge Canyon Dam itself. It is understood that the Authority will press before the Commission a broader application under which Arizona would build the dam for multiple purposes and comprehensive uses, including both irrigation and power. Bridge Canyon is a key site for the diversion of Colorado River water to the central valleys of Arizona, and the inclusion of such diversion in Arizona's application would accord it the preference which multiple-purpose applications enjoy under both state and federal law. Bills have been introduced for many years in the Arizona Legislature to create a State Agency to construct such a combined reclamation and power dam at the Bridge Canyon site. But no action was ever taken by Arizona to build there until Los Angeles filed. As matters now stand on the statute books, the Arizona Power Authority can function only in the power field, and by law is expressly prohibited from diverting water from the river to Central Arizona. The Arizona Interstate Stream Commission is authorized only to make studies of such a diversion. There have been efforts at co-ordination between these two agencies but since the Authority can build only power structures and the Commission cannot build anything but only study, there was nothing to co-ordinate and the field was left open for Los Angeles to file on the site. Nothing could be more futile than for Arizona to appear before the Federal Power Commission with an application for a permit to -4-Epson Perfection 4870 Photo, 400 dpi, 8 bit, 2,138,061 byte