Thursday, July 15, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

WATER PIPELINE AUTHORIZATION: Lincoln County land bill opposed

Group fears Eastern Nevada could become `another Owens Valley'

WASHINGTON -- A coalition of 45 conservation and ranching groups and individuals is organizing opposition to a Lincoln County land bill in Congress they charge would deprive rural counties of water and harm the region's ecosystem.

The group contends the bill, which includes authorization for a water pipeline to Las Vegas, would turn Eastern Nevada into "another Owens Valley," the Central California farming region that Los Angeles drained during the early 1900s.

In a three-page letter sent Monday to the Nevada congressional delegation, the group also contends the bill, introduced by the lawmakers last month, would circumvent environmental laws used in deciding where to put a pipeline.

"There are already procedures in place with open public participation," said Paul Brown, Southern Nevada director of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, one of the signers.

The Center for Biological Diversity, Citizen Alert, Great Basin Mine Watch, the Nevada Wildlife Federation and Idaho-based Western Watersheds Project were among the groups who signed the letter. State Assemblywomen Sheila Leslie of Reno and Peggy Pierce of Las Vegas also signed.

The bill would clear the way for the Southern Nevada Water Authority to build pipelines through Lincoln County to carry groundwater to the Las Vegas Valley. By setting the route, lawmakers skip initial federal procedures that can take several years, critics say.

Tessa Hafen, a spokeswoman for Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the bill would not waive any environmental laws in determining whether a pipeline should be built. She noted that any pipeline would run parallel to existing roads.

Brown said coalition members "are worried the same thing that happened in Owens Valley will happen in Eastern Nevada."

"Before the exportation project is expedited by congressional legislation, there should be an independent study on the entire state's water needs and supply options," the opponents said in the letter.

The groups also take issue with a deal included in the lands bill that would benefit private developer and Nevada lobbyist Harvey Whittemore. The measure would move a utility corridor out of Whittemore's proposed Coyote Springs development to an area that is now part of the Desert National Wildlife Range.

"There are no provisions for environmental review of the relocation, especially for potential impacts on threatened desert tortoise and on bighorn sheep that depend on public lands in the area," the organizations wrote.

Critics have said the relocation of the utility corridor also would shortchange the government millions of dollars while requiring Whittemore to pay only several hundred thousand dollars for the transaction.

The groups requested hearings in Nevada on the bill. Hafen said Nevada congressional aides held two public meetings last year in Lincoln County on the bill before it was introduced.

The House Resources Committee is slated to hold a hearing on the bill Tuesday but a witness list has not been announced.