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The '''North American Water and Power Alliance''' (NAWPA or NAWAPA, also referred to as NAWAPTA from proposed governing body the '''North American Water and Power Treaty Authority''') is a |
The '''North American Water and Power Alliance''' (NAWPA or NAWAPA, also referred to as NAWAPTA from proposed governing body the '''North American Water and Power Treaty Authority''') is a defunct [[water export]] scheme conceived in the 1950s by the [[US Army Corps of Engineers]] to supply more water to the [[Colorado River]] system. The planners envisioned diverting water from some rivers in [[Alaska]] south through [[Canada]] via the [[Rocky Mountain Trench]] and other routes to the US and would involve 369 separate construction projects. The water would enter the US in northern [[Montana]]. There it would be diverted to the headwaters of rivers like the [[Colorado River]] and others. The water would generate [[hydro-electricity]] during its trip via dams — though nowhere near as much electricity as would be required to pump the water uphill from Alaska, meaning that the project would be a significant net energy user.<ref name="Reisner"/> |
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The Corps of Engineers studied this project in the 1950s and 1960s, before rejecting it on economic and environmental grounds.<ref name="Reisner">Reisner, Marc. ''Cadillac Desert'' revised edition, 1993</ref> The project would have turned almost the entire Rocky Mountain Trench into a massive, 500-mile-long reservoir, destroying vast areas of wildlife habitat and requiring the relocation of hundreds of thousands of people — including the entire city of [[Prince George, British Columbia]]. The amount of electricity required to pump the water over the Rockies would have required the construction of as many as six nuclear power plants. By the 1970s, [[Interior Secretary]] [[Stewart Udall]] publicly ridiculed the idea of NAWAPA.<ref name="Reisner"/> [[Luna Leopold]], a conservationist and professor of hydrology at the [[University of California, Berkeley]] said of NAWAPA, "The environmental damage that would be caused by that damned thing can't even be described. It would cause as much harm as all of the dam-building we have done in a hundred years."<ref name="Reisner"/> |
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A technical and economic blueprint for the plan was developed by the [[Parsons Corporation]] of Pasadena, California. The Parsons plan would include irrigation water for [[Mexico]], enough to reclaim 7 or 8 times more land than [[Egypt]] reclaimed with the [[Aswan High Dam]]. <ref>Ebeling, Walter, '' |
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Fruited Plain: The Story of American Agriculture '', Univ of California Pr (February 1980), p. 319</ref> In 1967, Senator [[Frank Moss]] of Utah wrote ''The Water Crisis'', in which he called NAWAPA the most comprehensive water diversion proposal to solve supply and pollution problems.<ref>Moss, Frank, ''The Water Crisis'', F. A. Praeger 1967, p. 245.</ref> |
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The project was opposed by public sentiment in Canada |
The project was opposed by public sentiment in Canada,<ref name="Reisner"/> though Canadian financier [[Simon Reisman]], who negotiated the [[Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement|Free Trade Agreement]], the precursor to the [[North American Free Trade Agreement]], was one of its backers and main promoters. Nonetheless, the Canadian position on free trade exempted water exports, in part specifically to pre-empt any attempted completion of Reisman's long-time pet project. |
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Critics of the project have included environmentalist [[Marc Reisner]], who asserted that the hydroelectric power generated by the project would be less than the electricity required to pump the water uphill from Alaska, meaning that the project would be a significant net energy user. Reisner also argued that the project, which would have turned almost the entire Rocky Mountain Trench into a 500-mile-long reservoir, would destroy vast areas of wildlife habitat and requiring the relocation of hundreds of thousands of people. The amount of electricity required to pump the water over the Rockies would require the construction of up to 30 nuclear power plants, according to Reisner.<ref name="Reisner">Reisner, Marc. ''Cadillac Desert'' revised edition, 1993</ref> |
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[[Lyndon LaRouche]] and the [[LaRouche movement]] launched efforts to revive NAWAPA in 1982 and again in 2010.<ref>Welsh, Francis J., ''How to Create a Water Crisis'', Johnson Books 1985, p. 213</ref><ref>deBuys, William, ''A Great Aridness:Climate Change and the Future of the American Southwest'', Oxford University Press 2011, p. 329</ref> |
[[Lyndon LaRouche]] and the [[LaRouche movement]] launched efforts to revive NAWAPA in 1982 and again in 2010.<ref>Welsh, Francis J., ''How to Create a Water Crisis'', Johnson Books 1985, p. 213</ref><ref>deBuys, William, ''A Great Aridness:Climate Change and the Future of the American Southwest'', Oxford University Press 2011, p. 329</ref> |
Revision as of 18:10, 17 July 2013
The North American Water and Power Alliance (NAWPA or NAWAPA, also referred to as NAWAPTA from proposed governing body the North American Water and Power Treaty Authority) is a defunct water export scheme conceived in the 1950s by the US Army Corps of Engineers to supply more water to the Colorado River system. The planners envisioned diverting water from some rivers in Alaska south through Canada via the Rocky Mountain Trench and other routes to the US and would involve 369 separate construction projects. The water would enter the US in northern Montana. There it would be diverted to the headwaters of rivers like the Colorado River and others. The water would generate hydro-electricity during its trip via dams — though nowhere near as much electricity as would be required to pump the water uphill from Alaska, meaning that the project would be a significant net energy user.[1]
The Corps of Engineers studied this project in the 1950s and 1960s, before rejecting it on economic and environmental grounds.[1] The project would have turned almost the entire Rocky Mountain Trench into a massive, 500-mile-long reservoir, destroying vast areas of wildlife habitat and requiring the relocation of hundreds of thousands of people — including the entire city of Prince George, British Columbia. The amount of electricity required to pump the water over the Rockies would have required the construction of as many as six nuclear power plants. By the 1970s, Interior Secretary Stewart Udall publicly ridiculed the idea of NAWAPA.[1] Luna Leopold, a conservationist and professor of hydrology at the University of California, Berkeley said of NAWAPA, "The environmental damage that would be caused by that damned thing can't even be described. It would cause as much harm as all of the dam-building we have done in a hundred years."[1]
The project was opposed by public sentiment in Canada,[1] though Canadian financier Simon Reisman, who negotiated the Free Trade Agreement, the precursor to the North American Free Trade Agreement, was one of its backers and main promoters. Nonetheless, the Canadian position on free trade exempted water exports, in part specifically to pre-empt any attempted completion of Reisman's long-time pet project.
Lyndon LaRouche and the LaRouche movement launched efforts to revive NAWAPA in 1982 and again in 2010.[2][3]
See also
- Boundary Waters Commission
- International Joint Commission
- Columbia River Treaty
- North American Union
- Cadillac Desert
- South–North Water Transfer Project under construction in People's Republic of China
References
External links
- "North American Water and Power Alliance" - booster page
- The Outline of NAWAPA, Lyndon H. LaRouche, Schiller Institute, January 1983
- Map of NAWAPA diversions, Schiller Institute
- Promotional video from the 1960s (YouTube Ireland)
- Turning on Canada's Tap, Polaris Institute
- Canadian Water Exports:Will NAWAPA Return?
- Smithsonian Institution, NAWAPA Collection, 1964-1990
- Extende NAWAPA by LaRouchePAC