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Power Groups Squaring OffFor Another BPA Battle\CBy JOHN KAMPSWASHINGTON (AF)-A House appropriations subcommittee is providing the arena, again I his year for a battle between public and private power groups.Contestants in what has come to be a perennial fight over the electric power market in southern idalia are, in one corner, the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) and public power advocates, and, in the other, the private power companies of Ida* ho and Utah and their seconds,The subcommittee recently heard BP A* 5 request for $1 million to plan the construction of a line to carry power from the Columbia River Busin in the Pact lie Northwest to southern Idaho. The subcommittee's hearings are behind closed doors.In the next two weeks, beginning today, the subcommittee will hear public’* witnesses, expected to include spokesmen for Che Idaho Power Co., Utah Pow-ei Light Co., and members of Congress for and against the BPA proposal.BPA for years has sought tomove into southern Idaho, but Congress consistently has denied requests for money for Lhe $70 million, 400-mile line from Me-Nary Dam in Oregon to Soda Springs, Idaho.A year ago the House committee ordered negotiations aimed at reaching an agreement for (he transmission of federal power lo Idaho over private lines.|preference customers on reason-|der negotiations, and able terms, ItVmr* «t»u nn ?irv»r*Liylt;In the event that Congress balks again at the proposed $70 million McNa ry - Soda Springs line — which opponents claim will cost over $130 million—BPA is ready with an alternate’ mule involving Montana.The alternate line would start either, at the Lower Grante Dam In lhe Snake River of eastern Washington or at Dworshak Dam on the Clearwater River in north Idaho, then extend eastward la Anaconda, Mont., and south to Soda Springs, near the Idaho-11 lah border.Developments in the past year may affect congressional action in the controversy.The subcommittee has a new chairman, Rep. Michael J. Kir-wan, D-Ohio,who replaces the late Rep. Clarence Cannon, D-Mo. Cannon, was considered a public power opponent._ Klrwan Is not rated as a public power enthusiast, but he was a professed admirer of former Rep. Ralph Harding, D-ldahu, who campaigned for the BPA extension and was defeated last year. Harding’s successor from the southern Idaho district is' George V. Hansen, a Republican and an outspoken opponent of the BPA proposal.Renews RequestPresident Johnson, in a mes sage to Congress late last month renewed the BPA’s $1 million request, saying negotiations had 'Tailed to 'produce satisfactory contractual arrangements for wheeling Bonneville power toI thinkihere still is an area for nego-nations.”He said he understood that the rtflgoliafors were able io reach agreement m a number of points. •Hansen said thfere is a great need in Idaho for construction of the Lower Teton Water Project, which has been authorized by Congress. He said he would 'urge an appropriation of several hundred thousand dollars to gel the project. under way.Montanans in Congress gave no Indication they would go out of their way to promote the proposed alternate line. Some feel that a federal line in southern Idaho would put Montana industries at a competitive disadvantage.Demand Powerfii«vlt;IrC!atidcJIndustries EnterHansen said in an interview that during the past year, in the absence of what he called tlio BPA threat, new industries have'entered, dr plan to enler, Idaho,- Among them, he said, are phosphate fertilizer producers, wliich, he said, were afraid they could not compete with one big plant In Idaho if th/s plant were given large blocks of low-cosi power,.Hansen said it was the disposition of the committee to or-Sen. Mike Mansfield of Montana, the' Senate Democratic leader and a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Sen. Lee Metcalf, D-Mont., have demanded and obtained reservations of power from federal dams in Montana for use in the state.They don’t want too much power generated with Montana water to get away.Metcalf, however, has been feuding.with the Montana Power Co., which presumably would oppose the Anaconda line proposal,- Rep. Arnold Olsen, D-Mont., supported Karding last year.Asked about Hie proposed Ann-con tin ling, Ofsen said:‘Til testify to bring the power line as. far as the Anaconda-Butte industrial area. I want all the low cost power we can get for Montana industries and consumers. / 'But T don't think we ought to shove it down Idaho’s throat, when the congressman from southern Idaho doesn’t want it.t;h
Newspaper Details
Idaho State Journal
Pocatello, Idaho, US
Mon, May 10, 1965
Page 10
Full Page
Clipped by
New M.
NM, USA 25 Nov 2019
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