Senator YARBOROUGH. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I believe that in the coming development-is going to be a self-liquidating project—it will have a sound basis for payout.

The development of that power will pay so well that you will have bidders that will allow you to get that part of your revenue back. Every indication is that the population will zoom and that the consumer purchasers will rapidly serve to pay out the investment.

The case before the subcommittee today reminds me of a time about 101 years ago when Robert E. Lee as a colonel of cavalry commanded this chain of frontier posts west of San Antonio. On the map of Texas this general area is shown up the line of settlement here, slightly west of the western line of settlements along the old wagon trials. The climate was rough; it was cold in the winter and hot in the summer. Somebody asked why he was trying to take it away from the Indians.

Robert E. Lee's answer was "I hear the footsteps of the coming millions."

It has been a century, Mr. Chairman, but those millions are moving into that area now.

I think it is time for the dam to be built.

Mr. FASCELL. Just to be clear on this point, it is your idea that the customers should bid for power and not for falling water?

Senator YARBOROUGH. Well, my main desire is to see the dam built. I would like to see it done in such a way as not to delay the dam. Now, I'd like to see them bid for power, but if they don't bid for power, if that is going to hold up the construction of the dam, I would say let them bid for falling water rather than prevent construction of the dam.

I think the most desirable way would be to have them bid for power. But above all, that dam is needed from the floods we have had, the two of 1954 and 1958, when the valley barely escaped devastation that would have been without parallel in the United States. Had either of those gone just a little bit more, we would have had more damage done than by any flood in the history of this country. With that great danger standing over that area, I say the building of the dam is the main thing. I would personally prefer to see them bid for power, but if that is going to delay it, I wouldn't object to having them bid for falling water if you can't get the dam any other

way.

As I say, it is like the settlement of the equitable claim for the water. I think the building of the dam is of primary importance. The prevention of floods there is the main thing and having a water supply for that great need is second.

Mr. FASCELL. Thank you, Senator. You are a very persuasive wit

ness.

Mr. O'HARA. Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask the Senator a question.

Are you suggesting a change in the bill now under consideration? Senator YARBOROUGH. Well, Congressman O'Hara, Congressman Fisher is the author of that bill and that would be a matter to be worked out by him with the different delegations from Texas here now and with this committee.

I am not attempting to suggest to the author of the bill nor the committee exactly the terminology, but if the committee saw fit, or if Congressman Fisher saw fit and parties from that area, there might be some minor amendments to it.

Mr. O'HARA. Are your remarks addressed to what I read on page 2 here, "Provided such development is undertaken, preference shall be given to a public body, or cooperative"? Are your remarks addressed in part to that language in the bill?

Senator YARBOROUGH. Well, I personally am very much in favor of that preference being given to a public body or cooperative as the lessee.

I want to commend Congressman Fisher for that language. In the view of some of the other reports that have been made over the years, I think it is farsighted and very fine language in the bill.

Mr. O'HARA. I want to say to the gentleman, yesterday my office received a telephone call from Springfield, Ill. from the cooperative people down there. They are very much interested in this bill. That is why I was seeking information as to whether the remarks of the Senator were addressed to that subject.

Senator YARBOROUGH. Well, I approve of the language Congressman Fisher has written in the bill. Of course with his being a native of this land of scarcity of rainfall he is thoroughly familiar with the problems of the people up in that area. I know that. Perhaps I shouldn't tell on him, that he and I roomed together in college. Mr. SELDEN. Are there any further questions?

Mr. BURLESON. Of course I want to thank my colleague for coming over and appearing before the committee. I know especially do Mr. Fisher and Mr. Kilgore join me in expressing our appreciation for a very able and very interesting statement.

Senator YARBOROUGH. Thank you very much, Congressman Burleson. Those are generous remarks.

You know, the saying sometimes floats around the Halls of Congress, as it does in the courts, then when the judge brags on the lawyer's presentation, the lawyer goes to his office and sits down and begins to think about what excuse he is going to give the client for losing the lawsuit.

I only hope the legislative branch doesn't follow the judicial custom in that regard.

Mr. SELDEN. Thank you very much for your very fine presentation, Senator.

The chair will recognize Mr. Ernest Smith, representing the United Merchants of Eagle Pass, Tex., who will show us a short film on the 1954 flood on the Rio Grande.

As I understand it, this film is short but it gives a very graphic picture of what took place during the 1954 flood.

As soon as Mr. Smith finishes, we will have additional witnesses. We will hear Messrs. Shepperd, Krezdorn, Ellis and Cobb.

STATEMENT BY ERNEST SMITH, UNITED MERCHANTS OF EAGLE PASS, TEX.

Mr. SMITH. The film was made by an amateur and is shown by an

amateur.

We have no pictures during the crest since the river crested during the night. We have the picture before the crest and the morning after the receding of the river.

(A motion picture film was shown.)

Now, the first portion of the picture deals with Commercial Street, which is our industrial street closest to the river. Then it switches to the post office, which is on the other end of the business district. Mr. KILGORE. There is the town of Eagle Pass.

Mr. SMITH. The town of Eagle Pass, the 1954 flood. When you see the pictures of Commercial Street under water and then see the area around the post office under water, you will know that the area between these is our main business district and was completely covered. The water rose above the parking meters right in the middle of our

town.

I will now endeavor to show it to you.

Mr. SMITH. This is the bridge from Commercial Street looking toward Piedras Negras.

This is one of the business houses on Commercial Street before the river rose.

At the far end, under water, is the immigration and customs office by that sign that you see.

This is part of the residential district of Eagle Pass.

Here is more of the residential district.

That is the customs and immigration office that you are looking into down there. That was before the crest.

This business house is on Commercial Street. That is Piedras Negras on the other side of the bridge. As you will notice, the water took away all this lower portion of the bridge when it crested.

This is taken from the post office. This is the other end of town. This is the service station right in front of the post office. They were moving things before the river crested.

Now, this is also still from the post office. The remainder of this is from the post office.

That is looking southward. The water came a way up into this station.

The U.S. Navy Research needed a boat about that time.
The water was rising there, as you will see in that station.

Now, down in that building below, you will see the water lines. You can see where the water crested to. On that building you will see the water mark. It is about 4 feet higher than it is now.

There is the same position. This is all taken from the post office. That is part of the residential district and the main part of the business district lies to our right.

We have a small short picture of the trouble we went through to clean up after this flood.

The people of Piedras Negras tried to escape, but their escape route was cut off by the water.

This is the cleanup job. This is looking down Main Street, which was all under water.

If there ever was a need for a dam for flood protection, it is this. This is about the third time this has occurred since 1922.

This was part of the airlift that assisted the people who were stranded in Piedras Negras.

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Only those who have been through a flood will realize what a flood is. You can look at pictures all day, but you have to go through one to know what it is.

All that area was under water.

This is looking toward Mexico, across the river.
(At this point, the motion picture was concluded.)
Mr. SMITH. Thank you very much for your time.

Mr. SELDEN. Thank you very much, Mr. Smith. The film was most interesting.

We have with us this morning several representatives of the Rural Electrification Administration. We are going to recognize, first, Mr. Riggs Shepperd, who is the general manager of the Medina Electric Cooperative, from Hondo, Tex.

Mr. Shepperd.

Mr. KILGORE. May I say, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Shepperd comes from my district, and I commend him to the committee as a very able, reliable, and honorable man. Since I don't know what he is going to say, I am not in a position to say in advance that I am with him, but I always have been.

STATEMENT OF RIGGS SHEPPERD, HONDO, TEX., CHAIRMAN, POWER AND TECHNICAL COMMITTEE, TEXAS ELECTRIC COOPERATIVES, INC.

Mr. SHEPPERD. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, my name is Riggs Shepperd. I am general manager of Medina Electric Cooperative of South Texas and also chairman of the Power and Technical Committee of the State Association of Electric Cooperatives.

We would like to be on record as favoring the construction of Amistad Dam for we believe that its conservation storage value, flood control benefits, and hydroelectric capability will be of very great value to the people of the area and the Nation. We feel that the benefits will certainly justify the costs of construction.

With other witnesses who will appear before the subcommittee, I wish to make a statement regarding the electric facilities in the proposed Amistad Dam under consideration by the committee.

Under a provision of H.R. 8080 by Congressman O. C. Fisher, of Texas, it appears that the hydroelectric power potential in Amistad Dam is to be developed through the leasing of a power privilege to some utility in the State of Texas.

It is our understanding that this provision was placed in the proposed law after the International Boundary and Water Commission reported to the Congress of the United States that the Federal Power Commission had found the hydroelectric facilities for the dam to be infeasible.

We reviewed the report of IBWC to the Congress. In that report there appears a letter from the Federal Power Commission regional office of Fort Worth, Tex., under date of April 1, 1958, to Commissioner Col. L. H. Hewitt of IBWC. It said that a study of the facts and the data of the water availability for a period of 56 years made it apparent that 75,000 kilowatts of firm power was available for 30 consecutive years, a period from 1920 to 1949.

It also stated that 45,000 kilowatts was available during the peak summer load months for a period of 52 out of the 56 years. Nevertheless, the Federal Power Commission assumed that the dependable capacity of the Diablo Dam was zero.

The Federal Power Commission therefore assigned a power value to the power available at Amistad Dam at 1.7 mills per kilowatt-hour and estimated that that price would be applicable only to a 147.6 million kilowatt-hours of annual energy. In the same letter report the FPC stated that in their opinion utilities in the area would probably be interested in installing the hydroelectric facilities at the dam. I should like to point out to the committee that the Federal Power Commission made no independent survey of the electric facility availability at the dam. They made their studies from data submitted by the IBWC.

It is also my understanding that the Federal Power Commission has no legal responsibility for any study or any report on an international waterway. It would therefore seem to me that since the FPC has been given no jurisdiction by Congress, the opinion of FPC is not binding in this case.

I would like to point out further than Falcon Dam at a point some 220 miles below the proposed Amistad Dam site was constructed a number of years ago with approximately 31,000 kilowatts of electric facilities on the American side.

The Federal Power Commission was not asked for a study with reference to Falcon, and to the best of my knowledge and belief, they did not make such a study of power availability for Falcon.

Falcon Dam would be the lower of the two dams if Amistad is constructed and would therefore not have under any circumstances power availability or value that an upper dam would have, since there is another storage reservoir available below to catch the water. Nevertheless, I believe it can be clearly shown that Falcon Dam will pay out the hydroelectric facilities which were installed.

It can be also clearly shown that the construction of Amistad Dam will benefit in some measure the hydropower availability at Falcon. However, the FPC says that the Amistad Dam dependable capacity We recognize that the dam does not have 100-percent firm power, but on the other hand, we do believe its full value should be taken into account.

is zero.

It appears from the report of IBWC to the Congress which also contained a letter from J. L. Bates of Central Power & Light Co. of Corpus Christi, Tex., wherein he offers to make a purchase of a falling water availability of the Amistad Dam under certain conditions for a price of $337,000 that at least Mr. Bates' company feels that there is a valuable power potential at Amistad Dam.

It would also appear that FPC feels the same for although they state the value of firm power for peaking capacity was zero, they nevertheless expected that someone would be willing to pay a good deal of money for the privilege of placing the hydro facilities at the dam.

It appears to us that this is riding the horse in two directions at the same time for since FPC says that hydro facilities cannot pay out it must follow that either the utility people had a different idea or they are willing to subsidize the Federal Government by placing