Consolidated amounts available for obligation

(Balances for June 30, 1954, are as certified under sec. 1311, Public Law 663)

Mr. RABAUT. We take up this morning the Tennessee Valley Authority and I presume, General Vogel, you have a statement to make? General VOGEL. I have a brief opening statement.

Mr. RABAUT. The committee will be glad to hear you at this time.

GENERAL STATEMENT

General VOGEL. When Congress created the Tennessee Valley Authority in 1933 it gave legislative recognition to the fact that a river valley comprises a natural unit for the development of water resources. The Tennessee Valley Authority Act gathers the many functions of land and water management into a single assignment and directs a single Federal agency to undertake the responsibility for developing the river and the other natural resources of its valley. This is the only instance in which the Federal Government has vested comprehensive responsibility of this kind in one agency.

TVA's responsibilities for the development of land resources embrace such activities as the promotion of forest improvement and use, the development of agricultural resources, and fertilizer and munitions research and development. TVA operates a chemical laboratory and experimental production facilities at Wilson Dam, Ala., for the production of new and improved chemical fertilizers. These fertilizers are used entirely in education and demonstration programs. They have been instrumental in a substantial expansion of the use of fertilizers in improved agriculture and in stimulating a market for privately produced fertilizers which in a recent 15-year period expanded fourfold in the Tennessee Valley and doubled in the Nation as a whole. In addition, the plant is readily convertible to the production of munitions and, in fact, furnished 60 percent of all the elemental phosphorus used by our Armed Forces in World War II. I might interpolate here to state that the plant furnished 100 percent of all elemental phosphorus used by the Armed Forces during the Korean conflict. TVA operates a plant at Muscle Shoals for the Department of the Army which produces component materials for a product of the Chemical Corps. As requested by the Department of the Army, TVA's chemical facilities are used for research and development of munitions.

TVA's responsibilities for water resource development include the management of the Tennessee River for navigation and flood control and for the maximum generation of electricity consistent with these two purposes. To provide for the maximum development of the water resource, TVA gives attention in varying degrees to the secondary benefits-recreation, fish and wildlife, domestic and industrial water supply, control of malaria, pollution abatement, and soil conservation as it relates to water conservation. In conducting studies and surveys concerning these secondary benefits TVA cooperates to the fullest possible extent with all interested Federal, State, and local agencies.

The creating act also turned over to TVA for operation an existing Federal water control project, Wilson Dam and related facilities, built between 1918 and 1925. Since 1933 TVA has designed and built 20 dams-17 multipurpose projects and 3 single-use projects; it operates 7 hydroelectric projects purchased from the Tennessee Electric Power Co.; and, through a cooperative agreement with the

Aluminum Co. of America (Alcoa), directs the operation of 12 Alcoa hydro projects in the basin. The water control system of the Tennessee Valley contains 40 projects, all of them operated by TVA or at its direction. No other major river system in this or any other country is more completely controlled and so thoroughly utilized.

Navigation development is one of the major programs through which ÏVA fulfills its broad responsibilities for unified development of the area's resources.

The 9 mainstream dams on the Tennessee River each contains locks which permit_navigation on a 9-foot channel from the Ohio River at Paducah, Ky., to Knoxville, Tenn., a distance of 650 rivermiles. The Tennessee is a part of the inland navigation system of the United States which directly serves the commerce of some 20 States. River traffic on the Tennessee has expanded from 32.6 million ton-miles in 1933 to 1.25 billion ton-miles (estimated) in 1954, with savings to shippers in transportation costs in 1954 of about $14 million. Since 1945, when construction of the channel was substantially completed by TVA, major attention has been given to encouraging the fullest use of the waterway. As a means of accomplishing this, TVA provides technical data to barge lines, industries, and others concerning channel conditions, reservoir operating schedules, transportation services, and the location of industrial waterfront sites. TVA also gives continuing attention to the need for improvements to navigation facilities and, when justified, designs and constructs them.

Cargoes on the waterway, all handled by privately owned barge lines, include grain from the Midwest; automobiles from Northern States; petroleum products from the Southwest and Midwest; steel from Pittsburgh and Chicago; fertilizer to the Midwest; coal from Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee; and salt and sulfur from the gulf coast.

Although TVA has the responsibility for developing navigation on the Tennessee River, I think it is important to note that the Corps of Engineers operates and maintains the navigation locks and maintains dredged cuts and safety harbors. It also keeps official records on river traffic. With TVA, it reviews proposed structures in or along the river to determine their effect on navigation. The two agencies maintain close liaison, work in close harmony and, along with the Coast Guard, which maintains navigation aids on the main channel, conduct regular inspections of the channel, locks, and navigation aids.

Flood control is one of the important benefits resulting from the Tennessee River reservoir system. The basic act lists flood control as the No. 2 purpose after navigation. The average annual rainfall in the Tennessee River Basin is about 51 inches. Nearly half the year's total occurs between December and April and floods are likely to occur during this period. The control of such floods is a major factor in planning, designing, constructing and operating the dams and reservoirs of this system.

TVA's multipurpose reservoir system provides approximately 14,600,000 acre-feet of useful controlled storage, of which 11,802,000 acre-feet are reserved for flood storage as of January 1 of each year. In other words, we enter into the calendar year with capacity to take care of what may be expected reasonably to follow. This stor