H.R. 5042 TO AUTHORIZE THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR TO CONSTRUCT, OPERATE, AND MAINTAIN THE BRANTLEY PROJECT, PECOS RIVER BASIN, N. MEX., AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

THURSDAY, MAY 25, 1972

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON IRRIGATION AND RECLAMATION OF THE COMMITTEE ON INTERIOR AND INSULAR AFFAIRS, Washington, D.C.

The subcommittee met, pursuant to the call at 10 o'clock in room 1324, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Harold T. Johnson (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Harold T. Johnson, Mr. Aspinall, and Mr. Hosmer.

Staff present: Sidney L. McFarland, staff director and clerk, and Lewis A. Sigler, counsel.

Mr. JOHNSON. The Subcommittee on Irrigation and Reclamation will come to order.

The purpose of our meeting this morning is to take testimony on H.R. 5042 by Mr. Runnels of the State of New Mexico. This would authorize the Secretary of the Interior to construct and operate and maintain the Brantley project in New Mexico.

The Subcommittee on Irrigation and Reclamation held hearings in Carlsbad on April 14, 1972.

At this time I would ask unanimous consent to place a copy of H.R. 5042 in the record and also place in the record at this point a report from the Department of the Interior signed by Assistant Secretary Mr. Smith stating that the Department would recommend the bill to be deferred until the report is completed and forwarded to the Congress. Also the Office of Management and Budget has no objection to setting up a report.

Is there objection to placing these two items in the record at this point?

(No response.)

Hearing none, so ordered.

H.R. 5042, 92D CONGRESS, 1ST SESSION

A BILL to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to construct, operate, and maintain the Brantley project, Pecos River Basin, New Mexico, and for other purposes

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to construct, operate, and maintain the Brantley project, Pecos River Basin, New Mexico, in accordance with the Federal reclamation laws (Act of June 17, 1902, 32 Stat. 388, and Acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto) and the provisions of

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this Act and the plan set out in the report of the Secretary on this project, with such modification of, omissions from, or additions to the works, as the Secretary may find proper and necessary for the purposes of irrigation, flood control, fish and wildlife and recreation, and for the elimination of the hazards of failure of McMillan and Avalon Dams.

SEC. 2. The conservation and development of the fish and wildlife resources and the enhancement of recreation opportunities in connection with the Brantley project shall be in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Water Project Recreation Act (79 Stat. 213).

SEC. 3. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to alter, amend, repeal, modify, or be in conflict with the provisions of the Pecos River Compact, 1948, consented to by the Congress in the Act of June 9, 1949 (63 Stat. 159).

SEC. 4. The costs allocated to flood control and the safety of dams purposes of the project shall be nonreimbursable and nonreturnable. The repayment of costs allocated to recreation and fish and wildlife enhancement shall be in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Water Project Recreation Act (79 Stat. 213).

SEC. 5. The interest rate used for computing interest during construction and interest on the unpaid balance of the reimbursable costs of the Brantley project shall be determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, as of the beginning of the fiscal year in which construction on the project is commenced, on the basis of the computed average interest rate payable by the Treasury upon its outstanding marketable public obligations which are neither due nor callable for redemption for fifteen years from date of issue.

SEC. 6. There is hereby authorized to be appropriated for construction of the Brantley project the sum of $34,785,000 (based upon January 1969 prices), plus or minus such amounts, if any, as may be justified by reason of changes in construction costs as indicated by engineering cost indices applicable to the types of construction involved and, in addition thereto, sums as may be required for operation and maintenance of the project.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, Washington, D.C., April 13, 1972.

Hon. WAYNE N. ASPINALL,

Chairman, Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.

DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: This responds to your request for the views of this Department on H.R. 5042, a bill "To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to construct, operate, and maintain the Brantley project, Pecos River Basin, New Mexico, and for other purposes."

We recommend that consideration of the bill be deferred until our feasibility study on the Brantley project is completed and forwarded to the Congress. The bill

H.R. 5042 would authorize the Secretary of the Interior to construct, operate, and maintain the Brantley project, Pecos River Basin, New Mexico, in accordance with the Federal reclamation laws and the plan in the Secretary's project report, subject to such alterations in the proposed works as the Secretary deems proper and necessary for the purposes of irrigation, flood control, fish and wildlife, recreation, and safety of dams. The conservation and development of fish and wildlife resources and the enhancement of recreation opportunities, including repayment of reimbursable costs allocated thereto, would be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Water Project Recreation Act. Costs allocable to flood control and dam safety would be nonreimbursable. The bill also specifies that the applicable interest rate for the project would be based on that for 15-year Treasury obligations and that its provisions should not be construed to affect the Pecos River Compact, 1948. Appropriations of $34,785,000 (January 1969 prices) would be authorized for construction of the project, subject to engineering cost indices changes. Appropriations of necessary sums would be authorized for operation and maintenance of the project.

The project

The Brantley project is a dam and reservoir development which would be located on the Pecos River in Eddy County about 20 miles upstream from Carlsbad, New Mexico. The project would provide replacement irrigation storage for the McMillan Reservoir which is losing its effectiveness because of sediment

accumulation. The McMillan and Avalon Dams are existing structures which presently serve the Carlsbad Irrigation District lands. Brantley Reservoir would provide storage for flood control not presently available in McMillan and Avalon Reservoirs and would eliminate the threat of failure of McMillan and Avalon Dams because of their inadequate spillways. In addition, the project would provide for fish and wildlife enhancement and for outdoor recreation opportunities. Discussion

The Secretary's feasibility report on the project is, as required by law, being prepared for transmittal to the Congress. When transmitted, we will be in a position to make a recommendation concerning enactment of H.R. 5042 and to comment in detail on the project and the legislation authorizing it.

The Water Resources Council has recently published proposed "Principles and Standards for Planning Water and Related Land Resources" in the Federal Register (36 FR 24143; December 21, 1971). Those principles when finally promulgated will require the reevaluation of several projects, including the Brantley project, on which reports are nearing completion. The need for this will be determined by the nature of the project and the status of the report.

In addition, the Bureau of Reclamation has for several years been conducting an examination of its own dams, upstream dams of others, and dams of other Interior agencies to determine whether spillways, outlet works, and other features of the older dams are adequate to handle potential floods based on modern meteorological techniques and up-to-date hydrologic data. These studies indicate that there are a number of dams which do not meet modern design criteria, including the McMillan and Avalon Dams.

General legislation may be necessary to modify some dams, including those under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior, to meet present-day design standards. In considering possible general legislation, it has been necessary to have the views and recommendations of other major Federal interests concerned with federally owned or financed dams and we have asked for a meeting of representatives of the Corps of Engineers, TVA, Federal Power Commission, and the Department of Agriculture to develop a comprehensive approach to this matter. Until the Federal agencies have an opportunity to jointly review and recommend uniform criteria for evaluating the needs for this work and a possible pattern of cost sharing by beneficiaries, it is inappropriate to take a position on a single structure such as Brantley Dam.

The Office of Management and Budget has advised that there is no objection to the presentation of this report from the standpoint of the Administration's program.

Sincerely yours,

JAMES R. SMITH, Assistant Secretary of the Interior.

Mr. JOHNSON. Our first witness this morning is Mr. Runnels. Before I call on him I would like to say to all of those who testified in Carlsbad that we thought we made a pretty good record there. The hearing is printed and it is available for all of those who are here to take back with you if you wish to take a copy.

The hearing in Carlsbad was completed. We heard all witnesses. There was one matter of concern there that was sort of left in limbo. When we closed the hearings, we asked the Pumpers Association and the State of New Mexico through their engineer, Mr. Reynolds, to get together and try to work out a suitable compromise or amendment to the bill. I presume they will be reporting that here today. We hope that has been resolved. That was about the only opposition to the project when we were there. We were taken over the area by air and everything was pointed out to us up and down the river. Then we were taken through the community of Carlsbad and the adjacent areas to learn more about the flood problem and flooding and the type of structures that were involved in the last floods that they had, and similarly the flood plain is there and unless this project or bill is passed, it would probably be in jeopardy every time you have a major flood on the river and if the dams were to give away, it would be worse.

So I think that this is a very logical project to consider and we hope we can make a good record here today.

want to say that Mr. Casey, our committee consultant, is in the hospital and he will not be back with us for another week or two but we have some very able people here today taking his place.

We have a light committee because Congress adjourned yesterday for the weekend and most people went home for the Memorial Day weekend, so we are light on people, but we do have the chairman of our full committee here who is a long time member of this committee and very much interested in western water problems and an expert in this field.

With that I think we will call on our colleague, Mr. Runnels, the Congressman from the State of New Mexico, for any statement he would like to make and will give him an opportunity for insertion in the record of any statement his colleagues make. We will place those statements in the record following your statement.

STATEMENT OF HON. HAROLD RUNNELS, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE SECOND CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO

Mr. RUNNELS. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, I want to thank the committee for once again allowing me the opportunity to express my complete support of H.R. 5042 which provides for the Secretary of the Interior to construct, operate, and maintain the Brantley project in New Mexico.

I am very pleased that several members of this committee were able to conduct field hearings in Carlsbad in order that they might have firsthand knowledge on the need for this project.

The people of the Carlsbad-Artesia areas have placed a very high priority on the need for this project to provide both flood protection and storage for irrigation water. As you can understand, water is very important to the residents of my State. It is extremely important to control flood waters and in turn to put these waters to beneficial uses.

Over three-quarters of our annual rainfall occurs from May to October in the form of showers or thunderstorms. The rainstorms are often of short duration, but can be destructive in nature and often result in flash flooding which, unless controlled, can result in costly damage.

Numerous studies have been made of the Pecos River Basin in past years. One such report made on the Brantley project shows that the present McMillan Dam comes very close to violating the Safe Dam Act. Silt has built up to a point that McMillan Dam is rapidly losing its capacity to hold enough water to adequately have protection against flooding.

It is therefore understandable why the communities located below the present storage facilities are so strong in their support of this project. Many of the oldtimers have seen the Pecos River in flood stage and are keenly aware of the hazards when the water is not controlled.

Much of the Southwest, including New Mexico, this year is facing a drought situation since they have received less than an inch of rain.

This fact points out the need for adequate storage facilities to receive the water during periods of heavy rainfall for usage when sufficient rainfall does not occur.

In addition to providing storage water to the farmers and ranchers of the valley, this water would also provide recreational activities for some 200,000 people in the area. Significant economic benefit could result for the tourist industry of this area.

The storage facility would also provide for a conservation of fish and wildlife resources in this area which does not have an abundant supply of water available for wildlife usage.

Mr. Chairman, I sincerely appreciate the fact that the committee has given so much of its time to listen to the testimony of many people in our State who are earnestly seeking your support for this project.

Once again, I would like to urge you to give approval to H.R. 5042 in order that a major step can be taken toward that realization of a project that is extremely important to New Mexico.

Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, to those departments that would ask and recommend that this legislation would be deferred, I would say had they lived in New Mexico and if they understood the problems, I don't think they could honestly ask that this legislation be deferred any longer.

We in Government can study things to death, but in the meantime we will lose lives. With that, Mr. Chairman, if you have any questions, I would be happy to answer.

Mr. JOHNSON. We want to thank you for your support for H.R. 5042. The contents of your statement here I think point up the two or three principal items of support for the project; the flood hazard and the conservation of water and the enhancement of fish and wildlife and recreation. Having looked over the area, I can see all of these would beyond a question of doubt be enhanced. There is not much rainfall in this area, and when it comes, it is heavy, so you need a facility there to handle the water and regulate the flow of the Pecos River. There is no question about it.

Does the gentleman from Colorado have anything?

Mr. ASPINALL. I do want to thank my colleague for his statement. I do not know whether he understands the handicap this committee is under because I know of no project that has been offered by this committee that didn't have a feasibility report of some kind.

The report of the Department certainly doesn't give us any criteria to go by as far as the requirements of the feasibility study is concerned. I can understand the need for the project and certainly sympathize with my colleague and I will be as helpful as I possibly can. Mr. JOHNSON. Does the gentleman from California have anything? Mr. HOSMER. Thank you. I am delighted to have you here today, Mr. Runnels and I do share the same problem that Chairman Aspinall does in respect to the preliminary requirements that are usually made in connection with these authorizations, however, as a former worker in the area, I am familiar with the area, and I am certainly sympathetic.

Mr. JOHNSON. We want to thank you.

Do you have any statements from your colleague, Mr. Lujan? Mr. RUNNELS. I will enter for the record the statement of Senator Anderson and Senator Montoya.

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