Regulators say no threat to snails in Nevada water pipeline path

Plenty of obstacles remain for Las Vegas water officials as they push forward with plans to siphon groundwater in eastern Nevada.

For now, though, they don’t have to worry about the snails.

Federal regulators have rejected a petition seeking endangered species protection for 14 types of tiny springsnails that live in the path of the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s multibillion-dollar pipeline project.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced late last week that the isolated snail species in Nevada and Utah have stable populations and do no warrant federal protection. After what it called a “thorough review of the best available science,” the agency determined that “current and future stressors” do not pose a significant threat to survival of the aquatic mollusks, most no bigger than a BB pellet.

‘Playing politics’

Environmentalists blasted the findings, which they said intentionally minimize the effects of large-scale pumping by the water authority.

“This drawdown will reduce or even eliminate spring flows and puts these fragile springsnails at imminent risk of extinction,” Patrick Donnelly, Nevada state director for the Tucson, Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity, said in a written statement. “The Trump administration is playing politics with Nevada’s wildlife in order to appease a handful of powerful campaign donors on the Strip who stand to benefit financially from the pipeline. In this administration, money trumps science.”

Under a plan first hatched almost 30 years ago, the authority wants to pump billions of gallons of groundwater a year from rural valleys in Lincoln and White Pine counties and send it to Las Vegas in a pipeline stretching about 300 miles and costing as much as $15 billion. Authority officials say the water could be needed in the next 15 to 20 years as the Las Vegas Valley outgrows its current water supply, 90 percent of which comes from the Colorado River by way of Lake Mead.

An endangered species listing for aquatic animals in the area could have further snarled the already-complicated project.

The Center for Biological Diversity and others first petitioned for the springsnails to be listed in 2010. They later sued the Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to act on the petition quickly enough.

Protections promised

Water authority spokesman Bronson Mack said officials for the agency were pleased by the decision, but protections for such sensitive species are already part of the monitoring and mitigation plans for the project.

“Those protections include developing baseline data for current wildlife populations and habitat, monitoring spring and creek flows, and establishing a process to intervene and mitigate potential effects before wildlife species are impacted,” Mack said in an email.

The announcement by the Fish and Wildlife Service came as testimony was wrapping up at a state hearing in Carson City that could determine how much water the authority is allowed to tap for its pipeline.

During the hearing, the authority argued it could pump safely even more than the 84,000 acre-feet of water a year — enough for at least 170,000 average homes — previously awarded by the state. Opponents countered with testimony predicting irreparable harm to water resources in eastern Nevada and the people who depend on them.

State Engineer Jason King is not expected to rule on the matter until late January at the earliest.

Contact Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350. Follow @RefriedBrean on Twitter.