ADDITIONAL

APPROPRIATION,

FISCAL YEAR 1941,

TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY, TO PROVIDE POWER FACILITIES TO EXPEDITE THE NATIONAL DEFENSE

JULY 11, 1940.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. TAYLOR, from the Committee on Appropriations, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. J. Res. 583]

The Committee on Appropriations, to whom was referred the joint resolution (H. J. Res. 583) entitled "Joint resolution making an additional appropriation for the Tennessee Valley Authority for the fiscal year 1941 to provide facilities to expedite the national defense" reports the measure without amendment and with a recommendation for its early consideration and passage.

The joint resolution carries an appropriation of $25,000,000 in accordance with the Executive recommendation in Senate Document No. 241 of the present session to enable the Tennessee Valley Authority to provide additional electrical generating capacity to meet the present and projected requirements for power from plants engaged and to be engaged in the manufacture of materials and supplies for nationaldefense purposes. The $25,000,000 carried in the joint resolution is the initial appropriation of a program to cost $65,800,000..

The expansion of Tennessee Valley Authority power facilities to be undertaken under the appropriation is urgently pressed by the Advisory Commission of the Council of National Defense. There appeared before the committee in support of the program Mr. William S. Knudsen and Mr. Edward R. Stettinius, Jr., members of the Advisory

Commission; Mr. Gano Dunn, power consultant of the Commission's staff; and Mr. David E. Lilienthal, vice chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority. The committee invites attention to the testimony of these gentlemen incorporated in the printed hearings in justification of the vital importance of the proposed facilities to the nationaldefense program.

There should not be any confusion in the public mind with respect to this proposal for the Tennessee Valley Authority. Irrespective of the present or past views of anyone with respect to the governmental policy involved in the Tennessee Valley Authority Act or the operations thereunder, this appropriation should be viewed and adjudged solely by its present bearing upon the national-defense program.

The expansion of existing plants and facilities and the location of new plants and facilities so necessary for production of equipment, material, and supplies for national defense depend upon many factors such as existing locations, power supply, transportation facilities, raw materials, strategical geographical location, housing, labor supply, etc. One of the principal materials used in airplane production is aluminum and larger scale production of this material is dependent upon available power supply. In addition to the future needs for aluminum, other plant expansion or creation for defense needs are projected for the Tennessee Valley Authority area, and the power program to be undertaken by the joint resolution is very definitely tied into the projects and purposes that have been provided for under defense appropriations and authorizations heretofore enacted at this session as well as those that are to be considered in connection with the new program outlined by the President in his message of yesterday.

A survey of power sources by the Advisory Commission indicates the Tennessee Valley Authority area offers a quick solution with respect to securing additional power for aluminum production and the provision of facilities for the manufacture of other defense equipment and materials. Fortunately the Tennessee Valley Authority development has reached such a stage that additional generating facilities can be installed at existing dams and the organization and plans are ready for starting immediate work on additional facilities. All existing power installations, both those of the Tennessee Valley Authority and private companies in adjoining territory, are now being taxed to the limit to meet normal demands, and presently scheduled installations I will only care for normal growth in demands without regard to the new demands of national defense.

The total defense program for the Tennessee Valley Authority as initiated under the joint resolution involves a total of $65,800,000 on the following appropriation schedule: $25,000,000 for the fiscal year 1941, $29,800,000 for the fiscal year 1942, and $11,000,000 for the fiscal year 1943. It consists of (1) a storage project with power installation at the site, (2) installation of additional capacity in empty stalls at existing down river projects to utilize the added flow contributed by the storage project, (3) the construction of additional steam electrical generating facilities, and (4) the construction of the new transmission facilities required on account of this added generating capacity. The following is a more detailed description of these projects:

1. Cherokee Dam.-A storage dam and hydroelectric power plant to be built on the Holston River near Jefferson City, Tenn. This project will cost $36,000,000; will have a useful storage capacity of 1,400,000 acre-feet; and will have an installed capacity of 90,000 kilowatts. The appropriation will provide $11,000,000 for initial expenditure on this project. This amount, together with $19,000,000 in the fiscal year 1942 and $6,000,000 in the fiscal year 1943, will enable the Authority to have the storage from this project available in the spring of 1942 and the generating units at the site on the line in the fall of 1942. The storage and generating units at this project, together with additional generating units at Wilson and Pickwick Dams, as described below, will increase the continuous firm-power capacity of the Tennessee Valley Authority power system by 120,000 kilowatts.

2. Generating units No. 11 and No. 12 at Wilson and No. 4 at Pickwick.-The appropriation will provide $3,500,000 to start installation of two additional 26,000-kilowatt generating units at Wilson Dam, and one additional 36,000kilowatt unit at Pickwick Dam. This amount, together with $1,800,000 in the fiscal year 1942, will enable the Authority to have these three units with a total capacity of 88,000 kilowatts on the line by the spring of 1942 at which time the storage from the Holston project will be available to increase the low-water flow through all main river projects.

3. Steam-electric generating facilities.-The appropriation will provide $7,500,000 to start construction of additional steam electric generating facilities in the area served by the Authority with an installed capacity of approximately 120,000 kilowatts. This amount, together with $3,000,000 in the fiscal year 1942, will be sufficient to have these facilities on the line by December 1941. The Authority will be assisted in the planning and design of these facilities by a nationally recognized engineering firm specializing in design of steam plants.

4. Transmission facilities.-The appropriation will provide $3,000,000 to start construction of the transmission facilities needed to tie the generating facilities described above into the Tennessee Valley Authority power system and to carry this power to the market. It is estimated that an additional $6,000,000 in fiscal year 1942 and $5,000,000 in fiscal year 1943 will be required for this purpose.

The completion of the above projects will increase the generating capacity of the T. V. A. by 298,000 kilowatts. The emergency schedule to be followed will make this capacity and the attendant continuous firm power available for use on the following dates:

The urgency of providing an appropriation now lies primarily in the time factor of water storage. Delay in starting work on the proposed storage dam and making contracts for generating equipment may have the ultimate effect of a year's loss of time in the initial utilization of additional water power. It is planned to have the Cherokee Dam ready to store the spring floodwaters of 1942. Delay of weeks or even of days, considering the unforeseen contingencies which may occur during construction causing further delay, may mean a defeat of these important features of national defense. Prompt initiation of work on the steam electric plant is also highly necessary

in order that it may be completed on schedule and supplement water power generation during the low-water season.

The joint resolution follows the customary terms of Tennessee Valley Authority normal appropriations with one exception. A clause has been added suspending, during the fiscal year 1941, the provisions of existing law requiring competitive bidding, in order to expedite completion of such projects as are determined to be essential to the national defense by the Advisory Commission of the Council of National Defense. This authority follows that granted to the military and naval services in the emergency, and is an important factor in eliminating the very considerable delay that ensues normally from advertisement, consideration of bids, and making of awards under the competitive procedure. It should be remembered in this connection that a large proportion of the Tennessee Valley Authority funds are expendable on construction labor under force account instead of by the contract method so that the waiving of competition will apply to procurement of materials, supplies, and equipment, in connection with those projects determined to be essential to national defense by the Advisory Commission.

O

LYLE L. BRESSLER

JULY 11, 1940.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House and ordered to be printed

Mr. KENNEDY of Maryland, from the Committee on Claims, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany S. 2384]

The Committee on Claims, to whom was referred the bill (S. 2384) for the relief of Lyle L. Bressler, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with amendments and recommend that the bill, as amended, do pass.

The amendments are as follows:

Page 1, line 6, after the sign and figures "$124.45," insert "in full settlement of all claims against the United States".

Page 1, line 6, strike out the language "in the payment".

The purpose of the proposed legislation is to provide for the payment of $124.45 to Lyle L. Bressler, in full settlement of all claims against the United States for the reimbursement of his salary disallowed during the months of July, August, and September 1934, while employed in the Grand Teton National Park, Wyo.

The facts will be found fully set forth in Senate Report No. 1051, Seventy-sixth Congress, third session, which is appended hereto and made a part of this report.

Your committee concur in the recommendation of the Senate.

[S. Rept. No. 1051, 76th Cong., 3d sess.]

The records of the Department of the Interior show that Mr. Bressler was employed in the Grand Teton National Park during 3 months in 1934, in accordance with section 23 of the act of Congress approved March 28, 1934, which established a 40-hour week, and which at the time was believed to be applicable to the national parks. The Comptroller General, in a decision dated December 31, 1934, held that the provisions of section 23 of the act were not applicable to employees of the national parks and, consequently, disallowed $124.45 of Mr. Bressler's salary as representing the additional sum which he received as a result of being employed on the 40-hour basis.