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Show Waterway Transportation 54. The Nation should continue the improve- ment of its inland and intracoastal waterways to standard depth as an important objective of com- prehensive basin programs. This part of water resources development should be integrated into a broader program designed to provide the Na- tion with an economical and efficient coordinated transportation system including railroads, motor transport, waterways, and airways. In such a coordinated system all forms of transportation should be considered as complementary rather than competitive with each other. 55. Waterway charges should not be consid- ered as yardsticks for railroad rates, but rather as rates for traffic which, in the coordinated trans- portation system, can move more economically by water than by rail. In order to assure the great- est over-all contribution of the transportation system to the Nation's well-being, railroads should not be permitted to establish discriminatory rates paralleling waterway rates. 56. Decisions as to user charges, or tolls, for waterway commerce should be worked out as part of the whole problem of reconciling and making workable a coordinated transportation system. But, with rates for all forms of trans- portation based on full costs, an interconnected system of modern waterways, coordinated with land transportation, should be able to sustain it- self with tolls based on full costs and yield returns on the public investment while contributing to most economic use of the Nation's resources. Hydroelectric Power 57. Full development of the Nation's unde- veloped water power resources, as an integral part of comprehensive basin programs, should be considered a. major Federal responsibility, to be exercised in. such a way as to assure ample sup- plies of hydroelectric energy well in advance of expanding regional and national needs. 58. Federal hydroelectric plants should be de- signed to produce ultimate capacity and energy which will best fit into the requirements of poten- tial markets on the assumption of complete re- gional integration of power supply. 59. Future licenses for new non-Federal water power developments should be issued only with the joint consent of the Federal agencies respon- sible for power in basin programs. In exercising this responsibility, the Federal agencies should continue to recognize the preferential position ac- corded State and municipal applicants under the Federal Power Act. 60. The Federal power marketing policy here- tofore adopted by Congress, authorizing Federal agencies to build transmission facilities, giving preferences in power sales to public and coopera- tive bodies and fostering low rates for residential and rural consumption, should be continued. 61. Federal power marketing policy should be carried out flexibly to assure sound adaptation of Federal power supply responsibility to regional power resources and the most effective coopera- tion of all power systems, public and private, m the task of assuring ample supplies of power -+ the lowest possible rates. 62. Since private power systems will probably continue to provide a large share of the new capacity required to meet future needs, Federal arrangements for marketing power should where possible take full advantage of private power facilities, provided the contracts preserve the preferential rights of public bodies and coopera- tives to a share of the power, or its equivalent, at the lowest possible rates. 63. Where the Federal Government assumes a major responsibility for the power supply to dis- tribution systems, this should be recognized as a utility responsibility, requiring the construction of new generating capacity, whether hydroelec- tric or steam-electric, well in advance of expand- ing needs. Fish, Wildlife, and Recreation 64. Preservation and enhancement of the Na- tion's fish and wildlife resources should be recog- nized as one of the important objectives of com- 16 |