BLM to host nine meetings to seek input on pipeline plans

Federal officials will have nine meetings across a 425-mile swath of Nevada and Utah next month, as they seek comment on the Southern Nevada Water Authority's controversial pipeline plans.

The Bureau of Land Management is gathering input on a draft environmental review of the project that has been in the works since 2005.

The bureau on Wednesday announced public meetings in:

■ Pioche, 5 p.m. Aug. 2 at Pioche Elementary School, 651 Airport Road.

■ Baker, 5 p.m. Aug. 3 at Baker Elementary School, 120 Main St.

■ Delta, Utah, 5 p.m. Aug. 4 at Delta High School, 50 W. 300 N.

■ Ely, 5 p.m. Aug. 9 at White Pine High School, 1800 Bobcat Drive.

■ Elko, 5 p.m. Aug. 10 at Red Lion Hotel and Casino, 2065 Idaho St.

■ Salt Lake City, 4 p.m. Aug. 11 at Hampton Inn and Suites, 307 N. Admiral Byrd Road.

■ Las Vegas, at 4 p.m. Aug. 15 at the Henderson Convention Center, 200 S. Water St.

■ Alamo, 5 p.m. Aug. 16 at Lincoln County's Alamo Annex, 121 Joshua Tree St.

■ Reno, 3 p.m. Aug. 18 at the Sparks High School, 820 15th St.

People have until Sept. 8 to weigh in on the bureau's environmental impact statement, which is available on the Internet and in libraries and government offices across Nevada and Utah.

The draft report examines the potential effects of the water authority's plan to pump almost 220,000 acre-feet of groundwater a year from rural valleys in Clark, Lincoln and White Pine counties.

One acre-foot of water is enough to supply two average Las Vegas homes for a year, and the proposed project could deliver water for roughly 440,000 households.

Authority officials insist they have not committed to building the pipeline. They simply want to be ready should the need arise.

The agency considers the project a safety net, since the Las Vegas Valley depends on a single source -- the Colorado River -- for 90 percent of its drinking water supply.

The authority already has spent tens of millions of dollars on studies, preliminary designs and legal work for the pipeline project, which officials now say could cost more than $3 billion.

Next month's meetings are expected to draw pipeline opponents, including conservationists, ranchers and other rural residents.

The Great Basin Water Network is leading that charge. The group's spokesman, Steve Erickson, hopes to see a wave of thoughtful and forceful opposition at the meetings.

"These hearings are the best opportunity for the public to weigh in on the impacts of this massive boondoggle of a water grab," he said.

The authority is still seeking state permission for the project. State water regulators will have a hearing later this year on most of the groundwater applications for the project. The hearing, set to start Sept. 26 and last into November, is a repeat of previous hearings.

Last year, the state Supreme Court overturned the authority's water rights in four rural valleys and ordered the state engineer to rehear the matter.

The Bureau of Land Management's draft report is available on the its website, www.blm.gov/5w5c.

Written comments can be submitted by email to nvgwprojects@blm.gov; faxed to (775) 861-6689; or mailed to SNWA Project, Bureau of Land Management, Attn: Penny Woods, P.O. Box 12000, Reno, NV 89520.