OCR Text |
Show of the 35 reservoirs completed and under construc- tion by the Corps of Engineers amounts to about 277,000 acres. A similar figure for the 45 res- ervoirs approved but not yet started is about 491,- 000 acres, making a total of 768,000 acres. This includes all types of land. The 45 planned reser- voirs in the approved basin plan for flood control and other purposes will have an aggregate full pool of about 491,000 acres, a substantial part of which will be available for seasonal use. Most of the reservoirs constructed in the Ohio River Basin have been opposed to some extent be- cause they would inundate farm, coal, or timber lands. In most instances, particularly in connec- tion with those reservoirs in rugged areas involving a relatively small proportion of higher-grade lands, such opposition has been unorganized and has been presented by some of the individual property owners within the reservoir areas. Usually the opposition expressed by affected property owners results from sentimental attachment to their homes and lands, and in some cases from the owners' feeling that they may not be paid the full value of their holdings. In some instances involving large reservoirs for permanent or intermittent storage, major opposition has developed. Generally, where opposition has been organized, the organizations have been formed by property owners, other residents, and officials of political subdivisions in the affected areas. In some cases the opposition has been supported by the State legislatures or governors of the States involved. Typical projects on which such opposition has de- veloped are cited in the following paragraphs. Opposition has appeared against construction of the authorized Allegheny River reservoir in Penn- sylvania and New York. One contention is that the reservoir would prevent possible future im- provement of the river for slack-water navigation. Another is that some lands to be inundated were in the Cornplanter Indian Reservation in Penn- sylvania and in the Allegany Indian Reservation in New York. The West Fork River Reservoir has been au- thorized for flood control on a headwater tributary of the Monongahela River. West Virginia has op- posed building the reservoir because of the local antagonism to inundating farm and gas-producing lands. In making a study to determine the advis- ability of constructing an alternative system of mul- tiple-purpose reservoirs, the Corps of Engineers dis- covered another site above the original one. A res- ervoir on this site would be more economical than the proposed several reservoirs and as effective as the original. Here again local opposition to the proposed reservoir has been expressed. The Shoals, Spencer, and Wolf Creek Reservoirs on tributaries of the Wabash River in Illinois and Indiana were authorized units of a comprehensive flood control program for the Ohio River Basin. Strong opposition developed among land owners, residents, and representatives of local political units in the reservoir areas because of proposed drowning of agricultural land and communities, interference with established transportation routes, and removal of property from the tax rolls. Because of this opposition, Congress held up con- struction pending results of another survey in the basin to determine the need for still other flood protective works. Following this, opposition of the local people became so great that the reservoirs in 1946 were dropped from the plan. In a report on the Cumberland River Basin sub- mitted in 1945, field officers of the Corps of Engi- neers recommended replacing the obsolete naviga- tion facilities between Nashville and the mouth of the river with two locks and dams, one a high dam in the lower reach. The latter dam would provide for hydroelectric power and flood control as well as navigation. Because of the large area of land and improvements to be inundated, strong local opposition by property owners and residents be- came evident and the Governors of both Tennessee and Kentucky objected. An alternative proposal of two small dams for the high dam received congres- sional approval in 1946. Recently the high dam has again been advocated. The TVA has made a restudy of the lower Cumberland River and has submitted a report to the President in which the original findings of the Corps of Engineers' field officers concerning the desirability of the high dams are confirmed. Recently the Kentucky Flood Control and Water Usage Board of the Department of Conservation held public hearings at which the preponderant sentiment is reported to have been in favor of the high dam. Bills were introduced near the end of the Eighty-first Congress calling for authority for construction of the high dam by the Corps of Engineers. Opposition to dams has appeared in connection with various other reservoir projects such as French Creek Reservoir, Redbank Creek Reservoir in Penn- sylvania, and Falmouth Reservoir, Ky. In the more rugged areas where there is less improved and less valuable land, opposition has not been so vocal. 687 |