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Analysis Great Basin Water News

LAKE MEAD IS ONLY 33 PERCENT FULL — OF COURSE THERE ARE CUTS THIS YEAR

GBWNAugust 13, 2024

It just wouldn't feel like August if federal officials weren't bracing us for more water cuts —triggered by federal projections of reservoir elevations — for the Lower Basin at Lake Mead. Annual reductions, announced in mid-August, are baked into the…

Analysis Great Basin Water News

A New Milestone For Tribes: A Bill For Bahsahwahbee

GBWNAugust 5, 2024

Spring Valley, NV — Delaine and Rick Spilsbury have no vendettas — just a desire for recognition and reconciliation at Bahsahwahbee, a sacred gathering area and massacre site that’s hallowed ground for Western Shoshone and Goshute people. As they have for…

Analysis Great Basin Water News

The Price of Selling Off Public Lands: The Colorado River and Vegas Sprawl in 3 Charts

GBWNJuly 17, 2024

The federal government allows only one state in the west to profit from public land sales, and it happens to be the driest: Nevada. The policy’s legacy is one where billions of dollars flow into government coffers to pay…

Great Basin Water News

WATER-SUCKING CLARK COUNTY LANDS BILL RETURNS

GBWNJune 5, 2024

Today the Great Basin Water Network and Center for Biological Diversity released the following statements after Senator Cortez Masto introduced the latest version of the Southern Nevada Economic Development and Conservation Act, legislation that will increase demands on the water…

Analysis Great Basin Water News

STATE ENGINEER HALTS LITHIUM MINE WATER RIGHTS AFTER COALITION MAKES REQUEST

GBWNJune 4, 2024

GREEN RIVER — A coalition of Colorado River Basin advocates released the following statements after the Utah State Engineer granted its request for reconsideration on a water rights application for Utah’s first major lithium mine on the Green River. The coalition…

Analysis Great Basin Water News

WANTED: OFFICIALS WHO THINK LIKE IT’S 2099

GBWNJune 1, 2024

As the push for more pipelines and sprawl in Vegas continues, we must ask: Is this the right time to take more water from Lake Mead? Like the ouroboros snake that eats itself, the Western growth machine just won’t quit…

Analysis Great Basin Water News

ARE WATER DEVELOPERS FOMENTING A COUP IN NV WATER LAW

GBWNMay 23, 2024

Unearthed documents reviewed by GBWN expose an animosity toward public interest provisions in the law that protect communities and ecosystems. Powerful interests are working behind the scenes on proposals to overhaul who engages and how in water rights proceedings. Water…

Analysis Great Basin Water News

Coalition Moves to Undo Lithium Water Decision in Green River

GBWNMay 22, 2024

The request for reconsideration follows the Utah State Engineer's granting of a major water permit for the unprecedented mine on May 1. GREEN RIVER — This week a coalition of river advocates and residents acted to unwind the Utah State…

Analysis Great Basin Water News

COALITION UNVEILS BILLBOARD IN OPPOSITION TO WHITE PINE PUMPED STORAGE PROJECT

GBWNMay 13, 2024

Billboard on Highway 93 north of Ely highlights that Salt Lake City Developers are looking to profit from Nevada's water, land, and special places, spurring the fight over energy and water in White Pine County. Ely, NV –– A coalition…

Analysis Great Basin Water News

UTAH’S LITHIUM MINE AND ITS RADIOACTIVE NEIGHBOR

GBWNMay 2, 2024

A recent approval from the Utah State Engineer raises questions about permitting a mine near a radioactive site with contaminated groundwater. Utah’s love of lithium will not be foiled by a radioactive waste site. The Utah State Engineer…

Analysis Great Basin Water News

WILL REGULATORS PROTECT WATER FOR 25 MILLION PEOPLE?

GBWNApril 17, 2024

The problems on the Colorado River go well beyond the generalized notions of drought and aridity. We are dealing with 20th Century infrastructure in a 21st Century climate. Nevertheless, powerful entities are in the driver’s seat, unwilling to change lanes during a…

Analysis Great Basin Water News

NGOs CALL FOR ACTION ON GLEN CANYON DAM’S ANTIQUE PLUMBING

GBWNApril 10, 2024

Bureau’s Colorado River Experiment Demonstrates Magnitude of Water Crisis at Glen Canyon Dam Archaic Design of Glen Canyon Dam Plumbing jeopardizes water supply for 30 million people in California, Arizona, Nevada, requiring urgent need to solve this problem during…

Analysis Great Basin Water News

Lithium Test Well Blowout on Colorado River Tributary

GBWNMarch 9, 2024

Anson Resources, a company vying to mine lithium from deep brines in the Colorado River Basin, had a major test well failure this week. On March 8, reports emerged from Green River, Utah, of a test well failure and controlled flows…

Analysis Great Basin Water News

Step Up for Steptoe: SLC Developers to Hold Meetings in White Pine County on Proposed Pumped Storage Project

GBWNMarch 8, 2024

Things are heating up with the White Pine County Pumped Storage Project that we’ve been working to oppose, and we need your support. In the coming weeks and months, we’re expecting a lot of movement on this project and we…

Analysis Great Basin Water News

GBWN Tracking Water Speculation Near Pyramid Lake

GBWNMarch 6, 2024

Near one of the last desert terminal lakes in the American West, water profiteers continue to scour the desert looking to gain. As real estate developers, hedge funds, and tech bros fight over the last drops in aquifers and surface water…

Analysis Great Basin Water News

Colorado River Management Is Not Yet Sustainable

GBWNMarch 6, 2024

Today the Great Basin Water Network and Living Rivers released the following statements after the Bureau of Reclamation published its Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement For Near-Term Colorado River Operations (FEIS). The document imposes new emergency criteria on Arizona, California, and Nevada…

Analysis Great Basin Water News

Wrapping Up the 2024 Utah Legislative Session + an Update from Steptoe Valley

GBWNMarch 1, 2024

We don’t know how else to say it, but the Utah Legislature is a beast of its own. As we approach the final hours of the 2024 session, it’s fair to say that this session is a disappointment for those…

Great Basin Water News

GBWN Board Members Speak Out About the Quest to Protect Bahsahwahbee

GBWNFebruary 28, 2024

GBWN board members Delaine and Rick Spilsbury spent time with the Associated Press to discuss their family’s ties to the land, water, and history of the sacred site known as Bahsahwahbee. GBWN has worked with Western Shoshone tribes for decades in…

Analysis Great Basin Water News

Utah Legislature Bets on Augmentation over Conservation

GBWNFebruary 23, 2024

Another week under our belts in the Utah Legislature and we’ve got to say—it's tough out here for those of us who believe the best options for our water future all start with conservation. The good news is – light…

Great Basin Water News

How is GBWN Tracking The Colorado River Basin Lithium Rush

GBWNFebruary 14, 2024

The lithium rush is coming to the Colorado and Green Rivers. And we are engaging in the regulatory realm, responding as corporations file for permits in the Utah Division of Water Rights. Because of our tracking and monitoring of…

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