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Show for which it is to be repaid by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, and Davis Dam, for development of power and regulation of the lower river. Plans are going forward for the development of power as a part of the com- prehensive development of the Colorado Basin above Hoover Dam. Thus the construction of Hoover Dam launched the first comprehensive development of the power resources of a major river basin as a part of a multiple-purpose program. Hydroelectric Power in River Basin Programs The enactment of the Tennessee Valley Au- thority Act in 1933 marked a new step in the evolution of Federal power policy as related to water resources. This holds true whether future decisions provide for more valley authorities or for improvement in the interagency river basin committee technique, or otherwise. Under this act Congress set up for the first time a single agency with responsibility for the comprehensive development of a river basin for all purposes, including the maximum development of electric power consistent with flood control and naviga- tion. Here we need only set forth briefly the new ele- ments of national power policy which the act introduced. In the first place, consistent with the develop- ing concept of unified responsibility for the plan- ning and development of an entire river basin, it provided that no dam, appurtenant works, or other obstruction affecting navigation, flood con- trol, or public lands or reservations should be con- structed in the Tennessee River or any of its tributaries unless the plans had been submitted to and approved by the Authority. Congress ex- plicitly indicated that this was required to assure "the unified development and regulation of the Tennessee River system." This condition is consistent with the original Federal Water Power Act. For, according to its provisions, the Secretaries of the three Federal Departments mainly concerned with programs in- volving water and land resources were ex officio members of the Commission and consequently in a position under section 7 (b) of the act to refuse approval of applications inconsistent with programs subject to their jurisdiction. This seems a logical protection of unified river basin programs. In the second place, the act provided principles for the marketing of power from hydroelectric stations constructed as integral parts of multiple- purpose river basin programs. These principles were consistent with the general purposes set forth in the Federal Power Act to assure the peo- ple the maximum use of their water power re- sources at the lowest reasonable costs. They may be summarized as follows: 1. The Authority was authorized to make studies, experiments, and determinations to pro- mote the wider and better use of electric power for agricultural and domestic use, or for small or local industries, and to cooperate with other agen- cies in the application of electric power to the fuller and better balanced development of the resources of the region. 2. The Authority was authorized to sell sur- plus power to States, counties, municipalities, cor- porations, partnerships, or individuals, giving preference to public bodies and cooperatives. But contracts with private companies or individ- uals, for power which is to be resold for a profit, must reserve the right to cancel upon 5 years' notice if such power is needed to supply States, counties, or municipalities. Resale rate schedules must be included in the terms and conditions of power contracts with private companies and are permissible in contracts with public and coopera- tive distributors. 3. The Authority was authorized to construct, lease, purchase, or authorize the construction of transmission lines within transmission distance from the generating plant, and to interconnect with other systems. 4. TVA projects were declared to be consid- ered "primarily as for the benefit of the people of the section as a whole and particularly the domestic and rural consumers to whom the power can economically be made available." Sale to and use by industry was specifically made a sec- 226 |