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Show adjournment of the Second Session of the 89th Congress. Under present circumstances it cannot be expected that the Rules Committee will report H. R. 4671 to the House of Representatives for debate and a vote. Other Factors That Prevented Enactment of H. R. 4671 Other factors that prevented passage by the Congress of a Colorado River Basin Project Bill in 1966 can be summarized as follows: 1. The opposition of the Pacific Northwest was unified and formidable. Usually reclamation projects can depend upon the support of a block of fifteen Pacific Northwest House members. In its present form H. R. 4671 is assured of their violent opposition. Responsible officials of the Pacific Northwest, an area that wastes 12 times the virgin flow of the Colorado River at Lee Ferry into the Pacific Ocean each year from the Columbia River alone, object even to a carefully limited and circumscribed study of the question of an importation of water into the Colorado River Basin. All that H. R. 4671 provides is that there shall be a study of whether there is a reliable, long-term supply of water in the Northwest, or in northern California, surplus to any conceivable needs of those regions, and whether it would be financially, economically, and engineeringly feasible to move a small portion of that water into the Southwest. Only after a five-year study could Congress consider the question of building export works, and only by a vote of some future Congress could those works be constructed. It is apparent that in an election year a broad view of a national water problem is not popular with the local voters. 2. A distorted and misleading national campaign to "save the Grand Canyon" adversely influenced members of Congress whose support would otherwise automatically have been available. The ordinary western water Bill draws little opposition in eastern States. The massive campaign of a few so-called conservationist or preservationist organizations, aided and abetted by influential publications, made the Colorado River Basin Project Bill one of the most controversial, domestic, national issues of recent years. Many eastern members of Congress reported that they had received more mail on this subject than on any pending matter facing them in the 89th Congress. On the other hand, through the thorough and energetic efforts of the proponents 44 |