Last week GBWN got a copy of a letter authored by the top water managers in the Lower Basin advocating for the new administration to study and consider the major threats looming at Glen Canyon Dam. This is an unprecedented…
As we revealed a few weeks ago, there were many efforts underway by the State of Utah to exert more control on the Colorado River. And we are here to report that one of those efforts in the statehouse is…
When we are not working to defeat dangerous proposals in legislative sessions, we are working to pass laws that work for rural communities, ecosystems, and water users. That is our conservation trifecta, and we believe we have that with AB9…
New email records between federal officials and contractors for the Central Iron County Water District show that there are major plans in the works to re-start the water-stealing Cedar City Pipeline and Water Grab. The 343 pages of documents reveal…
Federal regulators moved to deny a key request from rPlus Hydro’s White Pine Water Power, delaying project permitting for nearly two years and rebuffing a request to expedite the hydrologic review for the project that would forever alter Steptoe Valley.…
Our dearest friend at the Water Network, Simeon Herskovits, passed away last week at the age of 61. For all of us at GBWN, Simeon was the legendary, almost immortal attorney whose principled legal strategies compelled judges, lawmakers, and the…
The new administration in Washington D.C. gutted the regulations overseeing the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, a key function for public participation and community protection on major actions proposed for federal lands.
The action, announced this week, poses many questions…
Next week there will be hearings on AB104 and AB9, two bills where GBWN has invested significant time on collaboration with water users and stakeholders.
AB104 deals with a management framework for retiring water rights via buybacks. When federal COVID money gushed…
Nothing says “Utah” like an effort to subvert federal authority on matters relating to land or water. Take for example HJR9, the latest gesture by Beehive State lawmakers to force their will upon those pesky requirements of the Colorado River…
After hearing from the concerned public, Assemblymember Selena La Rue-Hatch introduced AB109 to ensure that all industrial uses of water in Nevada undergo a review by the state’s top water regulator and receive a permit for their use.
Currently, certain industries…
Data centers are grabbing lots of headlines. And for good reason. The necessary cooling sucks up lots of water. The energy demands are hefty. The power necessary to sustain them requires large amounts of natural gas — which is a…
Keep a close eye on these bills working their way through the statehouses in the nation's driest states. In Nevada, watch AB109, AB134, AB9 and AB104. These are the efforts that will focus on conserving and protecting the…
During the first few days of the new Administration, policy wonks across all sectors read the spate of Executive Orders with varying degrees of confusion, outrage, joy, indifference, or uncertainty. For actions related to energy, there were two major orders…
Last week we were informed at a meeting of the Great Salt Lake Advisory Council that a lithium pilot project proposed by the company Waterleaf now has regulator approval from the Utah Division of Fire Forestry and Sovereign Lands. The recent…
Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto tried again and failed in 2024. Her proposal to sell off tens of thousands of acres of desert around Las Vegas did not make it out of Congress and onto President Biden’s desk.
This legislation inevitably…
Legislative proposals are starting to trickle out for public view. But proposed language is not yet available for all bills that will be up for debate in Nevada and Utah — where sessions begin February 3rd and January 21st, respectively.
In…
Water Warriors:
We are preparing for that special time of year when state lawmakers convene to do the business of the people in capitol complexes across the west. A cynic would say that this time of year merely implies that politicians…
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The moral high ground is a crowded place these days. Most people want to believe they are taking a stand for the right thing. In an era where companies, politicians, lobbyists and others are promising…
