American Notes ENVIRONMENT

"Dam Hetch Hetchy! As well dam for water tanks the people's cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple has ever been consecrated by the heart of man." So wrote Naturalist John Muir almost 75 years ago in a vain effort to keep the U.S. Government from flooding Northern California's magnificent Hetch Hetchy valley, a Yosemite look-alike, to provide San Francisco with power and water.

Last week Interior Secretary Donald Hodel proposed a reversal of that decision. If the reservoir could be drained and the valley restored to its original condition, mused Hodel in a staff memo, "what a tremendous payoff for America."

Conservationists are wary of the idea and accuse Hodel of using the scheme as a smoke screen to divert attention from such controversial measures as oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Others say he is actually looking for a way to get Washington to pay about $1 billion to complete the half-finished Auburn Dam nearby. But no one is more opposed than Mayor Dianne Feinstein of San Francisco, which still depends on the reservoir. Snapped Feinstein: "It's the worst idea since selling arms to Iran."