Broadcasting Telecasting (Jan-Mar 1956)

two or more Northwesterners assemble. Consider the oratorical brimstone that has come out of the Hells Canyon (Snake River) fight. Just to clear up the background a little, advocates of a federal project claim they can build a high dam and get well over 900,000 needed kilowatts of prime power (all-day, all-year power) plus many side benefits such as more water for downriver dams. The pro-federal groups have gone to court and threaten to fight unto death the 1955 grant of the Federal Power Commission for an Idaho Power Co. three-dam project which they claim would turn out only 505,000 kilowatts of prime power and make the public pay more for energy, and deprive the area of many side benefits. This is the bunk, say the private firms, contending they would get about the same amount of power as the more costly government dam and provide storage water, navigation facilities and tax revenues. They remind that Congress twice spurned the single Hells Canyon dam, and if the Northwest keeps waiting for the Washington Santa Claus to beam on them, the whole area will become bogged down in stump speeches. Facing this impasse, the Washington administration is behind a compromise plan — partnership dams in which the utilities would pay the cost of power facilities, get the power for 50 years, and then turn their part of the project back to the government. But the pro-federal groups are insisting on an allor-nothing financing formula. Four utilities (Pacific Power & Light, Portland GE, Montana Power and Washington Water Power) want to build big dams on mountainous Snake River. They have formed Pacific Northwest Power Co. to do the job, with 1.5 million kilowatts promised. Since Congress isn't inclined to feed money at a pace that will match economic needs, Paul B. McKee, Pacific Power & Light president, warns that the Northwest's growth will be "seriously retarded" unless the gap between demand and supply is filled. Dams are expensive, and take three to eight years to build. Mr. McKee said $1 billion is needed to complete three dams now under way — McNary, Chief Joseph and The Dalles. Then there will be need for another $2 billion in dams no later than 1965. Together they involve $300 million a year, or $1 million every working day for a decade and this pace is twice as fast as Congress has maintained in the last 10 years. Mr. McKee figures the demand this way (kilowatts) : 1930—1.2 million 1965—14.44 million 1956— 7.75 million 1970— 20 million Ex-Sen. Clarence Dill, whose vigorous efforts a quarter-century ago triggered Grand Coulee's approval by the Roosevelt Administration, said, "Our future depends on lowcost electricity. With enough of it, we can double our population in the next decade." He credits cheap power with much of the Northwest's development, especially its aluminum industry. The whole problem of hydroelectric energy is aggravated by the Pacific Northwest's lack of developed "fossil fuels*' such as oil, gas and coal. Oil lines are coming in (see Washington chapter); gas from the Southwest is due this summer through a 1,400-mile two-foot hole in the ground; vast sub-bituminous beds (60 billion tons) could be used for steam power. Some day 500,000 volt lines may bring in or carry away steamgenerated power over distances up to 1,000 miles. After all, water-spun turbines are dependent on the whims of the weather. These are partly offset by storage back of dams, but water flow diminishes in fall and winter. The Northwest vividly recalls two "brownouts" since 1950, with power rationed as evenly as possible, and a two-month slowdown just last spring at Bonneville. Autumn rains arrived fortuitously. Mr. McKee said private companies spent $1.6 billion in the last 20 years to provide 4.3 million kilowatts and Uncle supplied $1.5 billion to add 4.15 million kilowatts. This pace isn't fast enough, however. Oregon Sens. Richard Neuberger and Wayne Morse and other federal advocates say the nation can't afford to waste key dam sites. They warn vigorously against high power rates and vast profits from private dams and partnership. The private firms say a government 3,000 miles away can't be relied on to maintain an economic balance in the Northwest's supply and demand. Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay, a Northwesterner, says the government obviously can't undertake alone the financing of an adequate power program for the area. The low-grade coal would work well in the new cyclone furnaces used for steam generation of power, according to Prof. Floyd D. Robbins of the U. of Washington. He said much of the 60 billion tons of coal lies within 10 or 15 feet of the surface where it is economically handy for strip mining. Power cost, he estimated, would run 3V4 to 4'/2 mills per kilowatt hour and plants can be built in two or three years. In Tennessee Valley, where Uncle Sam has built dams galore, over half (55%) of the power comes from steam plants. When atomic energy comes, it will serve as a new fuel for steam generation. A checkup of Atomic Energy Commission sources indicates that most of the early atomic power plants will be built where they are most needed and where economical generation isn't available. At this point, the Pacific Northwest and TVA. with their water resources, aren't expected to be among the early users of atomic reactors. First atomic power may cost around 50 mills to generate, many times the cost of hydroelectric energy, but costs will come down, and down. At AEC there's considerable agreement that atomic generation of power will supplement rather than replace present plants for as much as another quarter or half-century. Right now, Pacific Northwest utilities and universities are looking into the question, and planning extensive research. With a pioneer plutonium plant at Hanford, Wash., the area is atom-minded. Money for power-plant development is coming from private sources, with AEC supplying the accumulated knowledge of a decade of experience. While all this is going on, the Pacific Northwest keeps growing, and using all the available power. It hopes there will be enough electricity to go around, and to attract new industries. They DON'T turn their backs on KPOJ because . . . KPOJ is the only PORTLAND radio station to increase its listening audience by 20% Since 1 952 ' This audience increase for KPOJ is reaping additional harvests for advertisers! Therefore . . . if you want to reach the rich Oregon Market with a radio station gaining more listeners every day . . . FOLLOW the CROWD! Put your message on the station that's rapidly moving ahead. the BRIGHT SPOT on every radio dial KPOJ PORTLAND, OREGON Represented Nationally by Avery Knodel, Inc. • Pulse, Inc. Broadcasting Telecasting January 9, 1956 • Page 93