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Water Grab News Archives — 2012
December 29, 2012 — BLM's decision on Nevada-Utah pipeline called ‘pure folly’ — Las Vegas' plan to tap billions of gallons of groundwater lurched closer to reality this week after the Bureau of Land Management granted a right of way for a 263-mile pipeline connecting the fast-growing gambling destination with rural basins to the north near the Utah state line. But excluded from this decision, which environmentalists and local ranchers will likely challenge in court, was the contentious matter of whether the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) will tap water from under the Snake Valley, the basin straddling the state line west of Delta. This is because Las Vegas has yet to secure rights to this groundwater, which remains in dispute between Utah and Nevada — Salt Lake Tribune
December 11, 2012 — [Utah] Governor Urged to Renegotiate on Snake Valley Water — Kuer.org
December 11, 2012 — Nevada water deal a raw deal for Utah, groups tell Herbert — A proposed water-sharing agreement between Utah and Nevada is a raw deal for Utah that could deplete ancient aquifers under the West Desert's Snake Valley, ruining its fragile ecosystem and a local economy based on ranching and tourism. That's according to a consortium of environmental groups and Snake Valley residents who urged Utah Gov. Gary Herbert on Tuesday to renegotiate the contract hammered out more than three years ago. — Salt Lake Tribune
December 06, 2012 — Above Lake Las Vegas — designobserver.com
December 05, 2012 — LADWP pulls leases under dry lake air monitors — sierrawave.net
November 30, 2013 — Water authority approves desalination contract — After more than a decade of deliberations, the San Diego County Water Authority voted Thursday to buy desalinated water from a $984 million project planned in Carlsbad. Officials hailed it as a historic step on the path to water self-sufficiency for the region — utSanDiego.com
November 28,2012 — Does meeting mean Gov. Gary Herbert will sign controversial water deal? Desert News.com
November 17, 2012 — Nelson: Understand groundwater — I’d like to offer some perspective on the Nov. 13 Tribune article “Utah governor weighing options to Snake Valley water standoff.” We’ve conducted research on the Spring Valley and Snake Valley groundwater system and recently published our findings in Hydrogeology Journal, an international academic publication — Salt Lake Tribune
November 16, 2012 — Water Boss Traveling Globe at Ratepayer Expense — 8NewsNow.com
November 14, 2012 — Lawmakers deal Lake Powell pipeline funding another setback — Legislators shot down the latest effort to get Utah taxpayers to subsidize the cost of a massive pipeline project to ship water from Lake Powell to St. George and the rest of Washington County, as well as Kane County — Salt Lake Tribune
November 14, 2012 — More users and less water are stressing the Colorado River — with serious consequences for Vegas — The Colorado River is one of the most heavily plumbed and litigated river systems in the world. It is a critical reservoir for tens of millions of agricultural and municipal users from Wyoming to the Mexican border. And it is under siege, hit hard by falling supply and increasing demand — By Launce Rake, Las Vegas City Life 
November 13, 2012 —Long Called for Alternative to Water Grab Pipeline Implemented — As reported in the Las Vegas Review Journal on Friday, the Bureau of Reclamation, Southern Nevada Water Authority and other Colorado River Basin states have secured an amended treaty with Mexico regarding the handling of Colorado River surpluses and shortages and the ability for Mexico to store its water in Lake Mead if it so desires, with the potential of raising the elevation of Lake Mead by 15 feet — GBWN
October 31, 2012 — Millard County: Snake Valley deal forfeits Utah water — A proposed Snake Valley water agreement between Utah and Nevada would give the Silver State a 7-1 advantage in claiming unallocated groundwater, according to the Millard County Commission — Salt Lake Tribune
October 30, 2012 — Task force says Snake Valley water deal equitable for Utah — Salt Lake Tribune
October 25, 2012 — River dreams — Two optimistic new books exhort Americans to embrace the challenges of their aging water infrastructure, but they provide sharply opposing views — Salt Lake Tribune
September 21, 2012 — Mulroy: Time for businesses to start sharing costs for water infrastructure — RJ.com
September 27, 2012 — Water madness — Far western Utah is suffering its driest year ever. The current drought is another warning that a scheme by Las Vegas-area water managers to pump vast quantities of ground water from wells in eastern Nevada to Sin City is an environmental disaster in the making — Salt Lake Tribune
September 24, 2012 —Scientists trace climate change in cave's stalagmites — Salt Lake Tribune
September 20, 2012 —
LAS VEGAS — 37,000 Letters to Salazar (So Far) on NV Water Pipe line — With the Bureau of Land Management's window for final comments closing Oct. 1, opponents of the massive Las Vegas water pipeline project are reaching far and wide to plead their case. As of today, says Rob Mrowka, Nevada conservation advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity, more than 37,000 letters have been written to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar asking him to deny the Southern Nevada Water Authority's right-of-way request to build the pipeline — PublicNewsService.org
September 12, 2012 — Finger Pointing all the way to the fiscal cliff: tell the BLM it's time to say no — BLM Issues Final EIS on Pipeline Project Opponents Urge Protest Letters to Salazar, Sandoval and SNWA — GBWN
August 25, 2012 — Utah needs a water policy — sltrib.com
August 15, 2012 — Desert solitaire: Las Vegas bets big on rural water — A water mining project that’s been a quarter-century in the making took a major step forward last week, when the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recommended approval of a plan for diverting groundwater from three counties in eastern Nevada to Sin City — High Country News
August 11, 2012 — Is Vegas shortstopping Colorado river water? — Thud. Eight years after Congress ordered that Las Vegas be given right-of-way across federal land for a 300-mile-long pipeline from Southern Nevada to the foot of the Great Basin National Park, the final environmental impact statement has been published. A reporter at High Country News puts the length of the document at 5,000 pages. Who knew that anyone would count the pages, much less read them? — ChanceOfrain.com
August 08, 2012 — Pipeline folly — The Bureau of Land Management's final environmental impact study grants the water barons of Las Vegas rights of way to build a 263-mile pipeline to siphon huge quantities of ground water from valleys in eastern Nevada to Sin City. This could easily kill off plant and animal life in these valleys, not by design, but because when the predictable environmental disaster is realized, it could be too late to reverse it — sltrib.com
August 07, 2012 — Snake Valley water could land in U.S. Supreme Court — Las Vegas isn't nearly done with Snake Valley — or its water. The issue of whether groundwater in the arid Snake Valley that straddles the Utah-Nevada line can be pumped and piped to Las Vegas could land before the U.S. Supreme Court. In an email to Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) board members last week, General Manager Pat Mulroy said the agency should consider a lawsuit to the nation's top court for Utah's failure to sign a negotiated settlement that would grant Nevada some 50,000 acre-feet per year of Snake Valley water — sltrib.com
August 03, 2012 — GBWN pans "new" preferred alternative in final EIS on SNWA'S groundwater pumping project — GBWN.org
July 19, 2012 — Water board provides rate relief to some customers — After weeks of pleas and punishment from rate-weary customers, the Southern Nevada Water Authority board unanimously approved a plan Thursday to ease the impact of the agency's new infrastructure surcharge — RJ.com
July 15, 2012 — My view: Alternative F a massive drain on Snake Valley residents — DesertNews.com
July 11, 2012 — BLM’S NEW “ALTERNATIVE” ON VEGAS PIPE — Ever heard of the Council on Environmental Quality? —chanceofrain.com
June 21, 2012 — Pipe Dreams: Water Supply and Pipeline Projects in the West — New water management strategies are needed in the western United States. With mounting populations, over-tapped rivers, extended droughts, severely damaged aquatic ecosystems, and the likelihood of future impacts from climate change, water managers face increasing challenges in locating reliable water supplies — NRDC.org
June 05, 2012 — Water rate hikes fuel complaints — RJ.com
May 30, 2012 —
Small-business owners complain they’re drowning under Water Authority’s new surcharge
— Las Vegas Sun
May 28, 2012 — Snake Valley Festival Slated for June 15-17 in Baker — thenevadaview.com
May 27, 2012 — Pipeline planners ignore input they need most — RJ.com
May 25, 2012 — Goshutes Battle To Save Their Sacred Water — cityweekly
May 24, 2012 — State ruling on rural water is challenged in court: Carson City — Opponents say a state ruling permitting nearly 84,000 acre-feet of water to be pumped from rural Nevada to Las Vegas will jeopardize ranching, farming, mining, recreational activities and even interfere with worship at burial and other sacred Indian site — Las Vegas Sun [Related Story]
May 23, 2012 — Record number of tribes gather to oppose nevada pipeline — thenevadaview.com
May 10, 2012 — The Goshute tribe battles to save their sacred water and land from Las Vegas — In Spring Valley in eastern Nevada, the swamp cedar trees stand in somber silence. No more than a mile or so long, they are a narrow strip of sentries marking the place where, the Goshutes say, men, women and children belonging to the Goshute and Shoshone tribes were massacred in 1863 and again in 1897. In this hushed grave, the Goshute, along with the Duckwater and Ely Shoshone tribes, come to mourn and conduct spiritual ceremonies — Ecityweekly.net [Print PDF]
April 11, 2012 — White Pine County officials to appeal rural water ruling — CARSON CITY: Before a standing-room crowd, the White Pine County Commission voted unanimously to appeal the state ruling allowing water to be pumped from rural Nevada to Las Vegas. White Pine County Commissioner Gary Perea said he does not think state Engineer Jason King considered existing water–rights holders, the environment or wildlife in making his ruling in March — Las Vegas Sun
April 05, 2012 — Why move Western water? — Sltrib.com
March 28, 2012 — Clock Ticking for Protestors of Historic Water Ruling — PublicNewsService.org
March 26, 2012 — In our opinion: A bad water decision for southwest Utah — DesertNews.com
March 27, 2012 — Water gamble
— Las Vegas has won approval of the Nevada state engineer to siphon huge amounts of groundwater from beneath valleys to the north and pipe it to Sin City. This is bad news for Utah. It would almost certainly damage the fragile Great Basin ecosystem, its complex groundwater network and water rights in the Beehive State — sltrib.com
March 23, 2012 — Goshute Tribe: Nevada State Engineer over-allocates water to Las Vegas —
March 22, 2012 — State allows pumping of groundwater from rural Nevada — The Southern Nevada Water Authority has something to put in its pipeline once again. Nevada's top water regulator on Thursday granted the authority permission to pump up to 84,000 acre-feet of groundwater a year from four rural valleys in Lincoln and White Pine counties. That is about two-thirds as much water as authority officials were seeking, but it's 5,200 acre-feet more than they got the last time around.— RJ.com
March 22, 2012 — State Engineer ruling announced today. press release from state engineer follows — DCNR
March 22, 2012 — Pipeline Foes (GBWN) Alam Water Ruling — News that Nevada State Engineer Jason King granted the Southern Nevada Water Authority rights to pump up to 83,988 acre-feet of the groundwater from four eastern Nevada valleys drew a swift and stern response from pipeline opponents, who called the ruling excessive and ill-considered — GBWN
March 20, 2012 — Southern Nevada Water Authority appeals for federal help — WASHINGTON -- Southern Nevada's top water manager on Tuesday appealed for the federal government to chip in as the region confronts billion-dollar costs to keep the taps running after more than a decade of drought. Pat Mulroy jokingly said she would welcome "anything" from Uncle Sam but focused on the possibility of low-interest loans similar to ones that helped build the area's water system years ago — RJ.com
March 13, 2012 — Undeveloped properties use millions of gallons of water On five acres of dirt in the southwest valley, a group of investors pays to water the weeds in hopes of hanging on to their unfinished cul-de-sac — RJ.com
February 29, 2012 — A Good Day for Golf Courses… the Rest of Us, Not So Much — thenevadaview.com
February 29, 2012 — Cutting water use is the best bet for Southern Nevada — Much of Nevada’s livelihood comes from gambling, but some things are too precious and too costly to gamble on. Unfortunately, gambling is exactly what the state’s largest provider of that most precious desert resource – water – is doing. The stakes are high for residents and businesses — Las Vegas Sun
January 27, 2012 —
Water Authority scales back rural water request
— The Southern Nevada Water Authority has scaled back its request for water rights in rural Nevada and suggested some water be set aside for growth in the four rural valleys where the water resides. In its recommendation, the authority said 104,854 acre-feet should be allocated from Eastern Nevada for the needs of Southern Nevada. That's down from its initial request of 125,975 acre-feet. — Las Vegas Sun
January 12, 2012 — Business coalition opposes West Slope water pipeline — A group of more than 250 businesses from seven states announced Thursday their opposition to a proposed pipeline that would transport water from the Green River on the Western Slope to the Front Range.— ncbr.com
January 12, 2012 — Pricing Las Vegas water — sltrib.com
January 11, 2-12 — Slow-Motion Water Wars Split Western States — scientificamerican.com
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