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Show 78 WAR FOR THE COLORADO RIVER Echo Park Dam should not be taken to mean that it advocated a general invasion of national parks. That was just the point, Rep. Saylor told him, and stated: 87 "Whatever this committee does in this in- stance will set the pattern, not just for the Upper Colo- rado River Basin, but for every national park and monument in the United States, because I have pointed out carefully that every time this committee makes a step, or every time Congress does anything, the bureaus downtown seize upon it as a precedent. "And you know and I know that there will be people down there in your department that have for years advocated the invasion, not just of this national monu- ment but of many other national monuments and parks." In this quiet way the violent battle to save Dinosaur began on Capitol Hill. During all the ensuing sessions, in both the House and the Senate, through two Con- gresses, no phase of the crsp would be discussed without the Dinosaur issue being injected. Reclamation Bureau witnesses such as Engineer E. O. Larson, veteran of the Central Arizona Project war, would stubbornly defend the Coll bran Formula and find themselves forced to defend at the same time the plan to invade Dinosaur. Power revenues, historic flows, compact provisions, legal interpretations, salinity con- trol, evaporation losses, feasibility standards, economic principles, losses to taxpayers, were the agenda and provoked bitter controversies, but always over the argu- ments was the indestructible shadow of Echo Park Dam. If anybody could make the crsp look good on paper, it was Larson. He had spent almost a career in achiev- ing that accomplishment. He was able to stand up |
