TABLE XVI.-Hydraulic turbines shipped and on order, scheduled for shipment as of Oct. 1, 1951

THE POWER SITUATION IN THE NORTHEAST WITH REFERENCE TO THE PROPOSED ST. LAWRENCE DEVELOPMENT

(By C. W. Mayott)

(As of February 20, 1952)

Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, my name is Clarence W. Mayott. I am retired after 41 years of electric-power utility work. I was Chief of Power Supply for the Southeast and Southwest for WPB during World War II. I was chairman of the Committee on Interconnections for the Utility Division of National Secur ity Resources Board. I was special consultant on the French Power Supply to European Coordinating Administration. For the last 5 years I have been vice chairman of the electric power survey committee of the Edison Electric Institute. I am a fellow of the American Institute of Electric Engineers. For 20 years I was manager of the Connecticut Valley Power Exchange, a voluntary coordinating association of New England utilities.

I am here to testify as to the electric power supply in the Northeast with special reference to the St. Lawrence.

First may I call your attention to my testimony before the Committee on Public Works, House of Representatives, eighty-second Congress, first session, hearings No. 82-83 as of Tuesday, April 17, 1951, pages 1001-1055. For your convenience, I am attaching a copy of my report, The Power Situation in the Northeast with reference to the proposed St. Lawrence development, revised as of March 22, 1951, as presented at that hearing.

Although those hearings were almost a year ago, the situation as then outlined is essentially the same today. There is no power emergency in the Northeast now, nor will there be in the future if the private power companies are allowed to continue to install the powerhouses they are planning for.

First I will present you with the most recent report of the electric power survey committee of the Edison Electric Institute, the tenth semiannual survey, dated October 1951.

You will note on pages 8 and 9 that the margins of capability over peak are greater in the Northeast region than in any other region of the United States of America. If materials are made available to carry out the authorized program, the margin in 1954 would be over 3,000,000 kilowatts or 15 percent over the peak for that year-five St. Lawrences. (St. Lawrence firm capacity at 570,000 kilowatts as per FPC).

I will also refer you to the report of the electric power advisory committee, Chairman E. W. Morehouse, dated December 31, 1951, to the Honorabl Manly Fleischmann, Administrator of the National Production Authority. This report agrees with the Edison Electric Institute's electric power survey and states that the Northeast region is one of the two regions that would have a surplus if the large defense program goes through.

The Morehouse committee report goes on to recommend that because of the predicted surplus the Northeast electric-power program be held back in order to allow the power equipment now on order for the Northeast to be installed in other sections of the country where that committee claims it will be of greater value to the preparedness program. It is difficult to see any justification for the Federal Government using materials to construct a hydroelectric power plant on the St. Lawrence at a time that the Federal Government is stopping the private electric-power industry in this same Northeast region from installing power plants already ordered.

(a) In other words it just doesn't make sense for the Federal Government to authorize more power in a region where a branch of the same Government is recommending a cut-back of the present power program because of a surplus in the same region.

In order to show the power situation in New York and New England, I attach two charts-A, for New York and B, for New England. These charts show the capability for each month, the peak load, the equipment planned to be out of service for necessary maintenance, the large defense loads, the reserve margin, and the new construction. In the lower right hand is a block showing the actual dependable capacity of the St. Lawrence as compared to the power supply and new construction in the area.

It is to be noted that large defense loads have been placed in the New York area. In spite of this the private utilities in the region are preparing to provide a reserve margin adequate to take care of additional future growth with out Federal aid. These provisions call the additions of more than the equiva

lent of one St. Lawrence each year in the New York-New England area and at least that same amount per year in the rest of the Northeast region.

Most certainly there is no justification of the Federal Government installing St. Lawrence power to relieve a power emergency for there is no emergency; neither are there any indications of one in the future. The private utility industry has adequately taken care of the situation in the past and is making all provisions to do so in the future.

1. The northeastern region is not a power-shortage area.

2. The electric power advisory committee under chairmanship of E. W. Morehouse reported on December 31, 1951, to the Honorable Manly Fleischmann, Administrator of Defense Production Administration, that the Northeast was one of the two regions of the United States of America which would have a surplus of power if the proposed preparedness program goes through.

THOUSANDS OF KILOWATTS

THOUSANDS OF KILOWATTS

3. The electric power advisory committee recommended that because of the predicted surplus the authorized program of additional electric-power expansion for the Northeast be curtailed in favor of other regions of the United States of America where the large defense loads are expected to use up all the surplus. 4. The proposed St. Lawrence development would take needed materials from other regions for use in the Northeast at the same time that the Federal Government would be curtailing the present authorized program in the Northeast so that the facilities could be used in other regions-an unexplainable conflict in this program at a time when the best judgment is needed. Gentlemen, it just doesn't make sense.