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Show Creek, now under construction, are within the exist- ing power market area of the TVA. There would also be advantages to navigation by virtue of possible savings in the cost of navigation structures and sav- ings to shippers due to shorter routes. Coordina- tion would also supply benefits for flood control. In the reaches of the river and its tributaries above Nashville, three structures have been under construction by the Corps of Engineers. Dale Hol- low Dana is now completed, and Center Hill and Wolf Creek Dams are nearly complete. The power produced at these stations, amounting to about one- half the ultimate potentialities of the Cumberland Basin, is to be marketed through the various dis- tribution agencies of TVA. This was done, under the provisions of the Flood Control Act of 1944, through a. contract between the Department of the Interior, the statutory marketing agency, and TVA, the logical marketing agency, because it had the dis- tribution system. The Corps of Engineers is to operate the projects, thus requiring another agree- ment between TVA and a third Federal agency, the Corps, covering schedule of water releases. Plans for development of the Cumberland.-In the Cumberland River below Nashville there is a series of low navigation dams, inadequate for mod- ern navigation and providing no flood protection. Accordingly the most pressing current issue relates to the method of future development of the lower portion of the river. Congress has approved (River and Harbor Act of 1946) * a new series of low navigation dams, which wo-uld make no contribution to flood control, and would not use the water of the lower river for power production. Three dams are authorized at Eureka, Dover, and Gheatham sites. The building of low dajns at Eureka and Dover would prevent, probably for years, construction of a high dam capable o:f producing flood control benefits for the Ohio and Mississippi River systems, and of generat- ing hydroelectric power. Dams also were author- ized at the Celina, Carthage, and Old Hickory sites on the m^in Cumberland above Nashville and at Stewart's Ferry, Rossview, and Three Islands sites on the tributaries. When t Jie 1946 River and Harbor Act was under consideration, an alternate plan, investigated by the Corps of Engineers, was suggested for construc- tion of a faugh dam on the lower section of the river. This proposed dam near the present Kentucky Dam on the Tennessee, would have created a navigation 4 Act of JT«ly 24,1946,60 Stat 634. pool as far as the Cheatham Project. It was pro- posed to operate the pool levels at higher elevations than on the Kentucky Reservoir. The dam would contain electric generating facilities but would pro- vide no significant flood control. The recommendation for construction of this project was not submitted to Congress because of local objections owing to inundations of a large acreage of agricultural land. Responding to the request of the President, TVA made studies of different plans for high dam con- struction, with structures to provide navigation, flood control, and power. It was an important objective of TVA in re- examining this program to minimize the permanent inundation of agricultural lands as much as possible. TVA studied five plans for the development of the lower river, analyzing the annual costs and bene- fits of each. It reached the conclusion that a high dam should be constructed at the lower Cumber- land site, with an installation of at least 130,000 kilowatts generating capacity. This structure would be a multiple-purpose project for navigation, flood control, and power, and it would replace the previously proposed Kuttawa (Eureka) and Dover navigation projects. Under this plan a substan- tial part of the reservoir area would be available for agricultural use during the summer and autumn growing seasons. Pool levels would correspond to those in Kentucky Reservoir. An analysis of the costs and benefits to be expected from the project was made and it was concluded that the three- purpose project would provide the highest net benefit-cost ratio among the five alternatives. It also was concluded that the proposed Cheatham Project should be continued, subject to further study of the inclusion of power facilities in the project, that the authorized Rossview and Three Islands Projects should be restudied before con- struction, and that the Old Hickory Project should go forward as authorized. Conclusions The Cumberland Basin has important relations to the lower Ohio River, of which it is a tributary, and to the Tennessee, its neighboring basin. The close cultural, economic, and political connections between the communities of the Cumberland Basin and the communities of the Tennessee Basin present advantages for managing the two basins in an inte- grated manner. The fact that both the Tennessee and the Cumberland are part of a single electric 750 |