Public Works Atomic Energy Commission Appropriations for fiscal 1975 (H.R. 15155). The vote is on the Conte amendment to delete $800,000 used to resume planning on the Dickey Lincoln project. The giant project, as big as the Aswan Dam, would flood 140 square miles of wilderness, destroying thousands of acres of prime recreational streams. Economists argued that the costs of the Dickey Lincoln, if evaluated under comparable assumptions, would run 60 to 80 percent higher than a fossil fuel plant of the same capacity. Yet the project would only operate 2.5 hours a day and would not benefit the majority of New England consumers hardest hit by inflated energy costs. Environmentalists opposed the project, saying that it represented a poor way of solving the region's energy problems. The President did not take a position on the amendment. June 6, 1974. Rejected 186-200. Yes is the correct vote.