T HE QUESTION of the disposition of the Hells Canyon reach of the Snake River, Idaho-Oregon, has provoked the most acrimonious dispute. Presumably the controlling principle is clear: it counsels the full development of this resource for the maximum public benefit the benefit of the nation, the region, the river basin, and the service area. But the principle has not settled the issue: whether development and operation of Hells Canyon is to be carried out by the federal government through a single dam in general accord with the comprehensive, multi-purpose, system-wide development plan for the Columbia River, or by a privatelyowned electric utility company, with modification of that comprehensive plan of development and operation. While this basic issue clearly involves the Snake Basin and its encompassing Columbia Basin and Pacific Northwest region, it is also of large national concern. There is a very substantial national stake in the full development of the resources of Hells Canyon as one of large multi.use potentials and as a key bi-state reach on a major tributary of the interstate and international Columbia River system. There is also a large national stake in the best possible settlement of the issues involved, not only for their direct and substantive effects but for the indirect and general effects through national water resources and power policy and program.