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Show surveys of these rivers.2 Recently the President asked all Federal agencies to cooperate with the Corps of Engineers in a study of all resources of the several river basins in New England and New York and a New England-New York Interagency Com- mittee has been established to begin this study. One phase of this study would relate to coordination of the power supply in the combined region. This study is to be completed in 1954. Programs to Develop the Potential No definite plans for additional hydroelectric developments in the basin by non-Federal utilities were known in August 1950. No projects in the Connecticut River Basin which include hydroelectric power plants are presently recommended for construction by any Federal agency. Studies by the Corps of Engineers and the Federal Power Commission in connection with pos- sible navigation improvement on the Connecticut River below Holyoke, Mass., at Enfield indicate that a power plant of about 42,000 kilowatts of power capacity would be feasible. However, the report on that project has not been transmitted to Congress. An application, now pending, has been made by private interests to the Federal Power Commission for a preliminary permit to maintain priority of application while investigating the pos- sibility of a power plant at the proposed Enfield Dam. There are 21 flood control reservoirs authorized for Federal construction in the basin. Because of local opposition to such reservoirs, only five of these have been completed and placed in opera- tion. Provisions for the possible future produc- tion of a small amount of hydroelectric power have been made at three of the constructed dams, Knightville, Union Village, and Tully Dams. A total of about 30,000 kilowatts could be installed at these three projects. However, such installa- tions are not presently authorized. Additional studies of the remaining authorized reservoir proj- ects may result in incorporating power facilities at some of the other dams. New investigations au- thorized for New England rivers, with special emphasis on determining their power possibilities, may result in legislation whereby some presently authorized projects will be reauthorized to include power. 2 Act of May 17, 1950, § 205, 64 Stat 163, -. A summary of the result of studies of a pre- liminary nature by the Federal Power Commission3 and others indicates that the total undeveloped hydroelectric potential in the basin amounts to approximately 953,000 kilowatts of installed ca- pacity (table 2). The Wilder and Holyoke redevel- opments presently under way are included. If the capacity and energy for undeveloped sites are added to that of existing projects, the total poten- tial of the Connecticut River Basin would amount to about 1.4 million kilowatts of installed capacity. This potential capacity could be used within the basin, integrated with steam-electric power in the present power system, or if desired by the local people, it could be used in part in a separate system integrated with base-load power from the Inter- national Rapids Project on the St. Lawrence. The total usable conservation storage capacity contemplated in connection with the undeveloped water power projects amounts to about 1.5 million acre-feet. (Footnote 3, table 2.) This, added to the existing capacity of some 500,000 acre-feet, would provide a total for the basin of some 2 mil- lion acre-feet of conservation storage. Many of the larger reservoirs would be multiple-purpose in character, providing conservation and control stor- age. There are possibilities of a total of 1.5 million acre-feet of storage which would be used entirely for flood-flow reduction. Total of all storage there- with would be 3.5 million acre-feet. Navigation Improvements, Minimum Channel Depth, Season of Operation, and Tonnage Commericial navigation is now limited to the reach of the Connecticut River below Hartford. Recreational boating occurs on the river as far upstream as Holyoke. The present channel depth of 15 feet below Hart- ford was attained in 1937. Since completion of this channel, tonnage moving on the river has increased over 50 percent, from 1.2 million tons in 1937 to 2 million tons in 1949. Principal commodities trans- ported are petroleum products and coal. Ice for- merly blocked the lower river for short periods during the winter, but in recent years the channel to Hartford has been kept open by a Coast Guard ice breaker. 3 Based on reports by the Corps of Engineers. 477 |
