Private Power Victory

Last week once again President Kennedy showed himself more conservative than many businessmen had expected. This time the issue was public v. private power in the 1,100,000-kw. five-state Upper Colorado River Storage Project.

When Kennedy was elected, most private power champions feared the worst. In its last days in office, the Eisenhower Administration decreed that the Government would build the Upper Colorado power transmission lines, presumably because it believed that the Kennedy Administration would ultimately do so anyhow. But last week that decision was surprisingly reversed by Interior Secretary Stewart Udall. He announced that many of the lines would be built and operated by five private utilities: Pacific Power & Light, Public Service Co. of Colorado, Utah Power & Light, Public Service Co. of New Mexico, and California-Pacific Utilities.

The new program will save the Government about $27 million. Udall also hopes that it will help to "bank the fires" of the whole rancorous power struggle, encourage private utilities to come to the support of his long-range plan for a hookup of private and public sources into a nationwide power grid.

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