| OCR Text |
Show JANUARY ON CAPITOL HILL 93 Pointing out that the Federal Power Act of 1920 pro- hibited the Federal Power Commission from granting permits to private enterprise for any developments in national parks or monuments, Grant stated: 12° "It would be strange indeed for Congress to authorize a government agency like the Bureau of Reclamation to violate such an established policy and to do what private enterprise is not allowed td do, namely to do irreparable damage to a scenic area legally set aside after careful study for the edification, instruction, and inspiration of our people so as to protect it against just such exploita- tion as is now proposed." Grant's plea to save Dinosaur was not, however, based entirely on emotion. He went into the engineering of the crsp, declared it was "not a well worked-out bal- anced project," and that it could be constructed without Echo Park Dam. In an insulting tone of voice, Rep. Dawson of Utah questioned whether Grant was a qualified engineer. The aging general smiled, and quietly replied that he had been an officer of the Corps of Engineers for forty- three years, had graduated from an engineering school and held a degree from West Point. The crsp strategists had made the mistake of think- ing that the conservation witnesses could be classed as some sort of "sob sisters." General Grant in presenting technical testimony had shown that expectation to be without foundation, and following witnesses even more forcefully demonstrated the fact. Joseph W. Penfold, appearing for the Izaak Walton League, did not only protest that the Echo Park Dam would ruin fishing in hundreds of miles of western streams, but struck at the Reclamation Bureau's claim |
