OCR Text |
Show Revenue From Power A further amendment contained in Section 4 provides that if, during the fifty-year period of amortization of the cost of the dam, there should be any excess revenue, the Secretary of the Interior shall pay to each of the States of Arizona and Nevada 18 3-4 per cent of such profit. There being no certainty of surplus revenues or profits, there is no assurance of any payment to the States, and the payments would in any event, in the absence of further legislation, terminate at the end of the amortization period. In the event that the power plant should be constructed by private capital, in accordance with the optional authority given to the Secretary of the Interior, the States would possess no power to tax it directly. Section 5 contains regulations for the operation of the project. The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to contract for the storage and delivery of the water, and to either construct and operate the power plant at the dam, to construct the dam and power plant and lease the latter, or to construct the dam and lease the water for the generation of power. An amendment to the original measure provides that contracts for power shall be readjusted as to price, upward or downward as competitive conditions warrant, fifteen years from the date of execution thereof, and every ten years thereafter. As in the original bill, conflicting applications for power shall be resolved by the Secretary of the Interior, but preference for a period of six months, shall be given to a State, the States of Arizona, California and Nevada having equal opportunity. Practically this opportunity, with the six-months limitation, would be all for California. |
Source |
Original book: [State of Arizona, complainant v. State of California, Palo Verde Irrigation District, Coachella Valley County Water District, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, City of Los Angeles, California, City of San Diego, California, and County of San Diego, California, defendants, United States of America, State of Nevada, State of New Mexico, State of Utah, interveners] : California exhibits. |