LETTER: Clark County development plan built on stealing rural water

The Review Journal’s Oct. 25 editorial, “Clark County Commission’s lands plan needed for economic growth,” had no mention of how the Las Vegas Valley will be able to sustain its water supply for future generations with tens of thousands of new homes that would be built on 300,000 new acres of developable land.

The current draft of the bill from Clark County would undermine federal law to assist the Southern Nevada Water Authority in its quest to build the a pipeline to pump 58 billion gallons of water annually from Great Basin communities. That’s why rural governments in both states — along with tribes, environmental groups and concerned citizens — are publicly opposing the pro-pipeline sections in this bill. We hope Nevada’s congressional delegation follows suit.

Southern Nevada has a right to grow and the water authority can certainly continue to supply new residents without sending the Great Basin’s future down a pipeline to the Mojave Desert. All we ask is that Las Vegas lives within its means and respects the laws of the land. The current bill draft does no such thing.