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Show DIXIE PROJECT, UTAH 13 May I suggest that you men who serve on this important committee may never fully realize the importance of your work. The work of this committee in studying and reporting to the Congress on reclamation projects has wrought great good to this State, to the West and to the Nation. In a large measure you hold the destiny of this people in your hand, and our future is largely what you will it to be. We believe in reclamation not only for what it does for our arid lands, but as a sound national investment. I would like to point out that there is in this State further justification for reclamation. I refer to the fact that in Utah the area under Federal ownership is on the order of 72 percent. In order that you may more fully comprehend this I would like to point out the federally owned lands in Utah total 61,140 square miles. Thus, the federally owned area in the State of Utah is only slightly less than the total area of all of the New England States- Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine- whose combined areas are 66,608 square miles. Or expressing it another way, the federally owned lands in the State of Utah exceed in area the entire State of Michigan. This large Federal ownership limits revenues normally available to the State of Utah. The U. S. Government, on the other hand, realizes considerable income from the Federal lands within the borders of Utah. The Congress has wisely provided that a certain percentage of the revenues from public lands be credited to the reclamation fund. These accretions to the reclamation fund from the sale of public lands and the proceeds from the Oil Leasing Act from the State of Utah amounted to a total of $ 3,892,000 for the fiscal year 1959, and the total, including preceding years to June 30,1959, is $ 32,918,000. We now ask your favorable consideration of the Dixie project. You will hear from these people their hopes and aspirations, which stretch back over a considerable period of time. Over the years I have taken a keen personal interest in the development of our water resources. I had my first personal contact with this proposed project nearly 45 years ago, in 1919, and I have followed it closely over the intervening years. I know what it means to the people of an area rich in potential but held back by the lack of usable water. Effective development of water originating in this geographical region, and to which we feel fully entitled, would open a new era in this important part of our State. Since development is possible only through implementation of the Di xie project. The State of Utah has, with its own resources, given considerable assistance to water development in the area of the Dixie project. The proposed project would utilize water which originates in the State of Utah. The Governors and appropriate State officials in Arizona and Nevada have given considerable study and consideration to the effects of this development on water users of the Virgin River. I present this project to you with the full support of the State of Utah and the assurance that it is uncontested by our neighboring States directly involved. In 1953 the Utah State Legislature anticipated the events that are taking place today. The legislators realized the need for and the value of water in this part of the State, and in framing and ratifying the Water Conservancy District Act provided that in this one area of the State an ad valorem tax of 5 mills could be levied in place of 36- 351- 64- 2 |
