Public Power, Private Dams: The Hells Canyon High Dam Controversy

摘要

After World War II, hydropower proposals for the upper Snake River generated enormous political controversy. Proposed as an extension of the federally controlled Columbia River power system initiated by the New Deal, the Hells Canyon High Dam represented government expansion into a region historically served by privately financed electric power enterprise. Resisting the growth of publicly controlled electric power, the Idaho Power Company countered with plans for a smaller, privately financed dam (eventually the company proposed three hydropower dams in Hells Canyon, but with a total generating capacity smaller than the government's single high dam). With this, the battle was joined: public power versus investor-owned utilities. In a politically charged debate, key questions were posed: How best to serve the interests of the American people and the citizens of southern Idaho? And what in fact constituted the "public interest?"