The Columbia Valley Administration Bill

Abstract

T HE CURRENT Columbia Valley Administration (CVA) proposal, Senate Bill 1645, is not a mere inspiration removed from the realities of federal administration in the Pacific Northwest, but has evolved from the working experiences of those who for many years have sought to draw the varied federal functions in the region into a balanced and coherent plan for the conservation and development of the abundant natural resources found in this region. Insights into the art of resources management have accumulated from the days of the National Resources Planning Board and its Northwest Regional Planning Commission to the current structure of inter-agency and intra-departmental committees. They have found their way into the CVA bill now before the Congress, and many students of resources management who are reluctant to approve the concept of the valley authority have been able to endorse the bill as the most reasonable authority scheme yet devised for the Northwest. It is clear, however, that the striking success of the Tennessee Valley Authority has served both as an example and as a stimulus to advocates of administrative reform. The triumph of organization by area, rather than by function, along the Tennessee pattern has been dramatized for the Northwest by several significant regional facts. Public awareness of the need for conservation has grown under the impact of rapidly diminishing forest resources and an increasingly serious loss of soil, fertility, and grazing opportunities. As the extractive industries have become pressed, the people of the region have looked toward industrialization based on hydroelectric power as a means of absorbing an unprecedented influx of citizens. The extensive power developments at Bonneville and Grand Coulee signaled the entrance of the federal government into the electric energy production and transmission business, but despite these and other structures, the rapid growth of the Northwest during and after World War II resulted in a power shortage which continues even now, much to the economic discomfort of the four states comprising this region. Moreover, the federal government's resources programs have not always been in complete harmony, and occasionally strife, competition, and inadequate planning have come to public attention. Finally, the flood disaster in the spring of 1948, and serious high waters recently have focused public gaze on the need for coordinated harnessing of the Columbia River system for flood control as well as power, navigation and irrigation. It was against this background of sentiment and experience that the current CVA proposal emerged. 607