water grab heats up

Things are heating up in the water grab. The Utah Legislature's Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee sent a letter to the state's congressional delegation seeking support for a new $6 million study (BARCASS 2) of an aquifer that lies under Snake Valley in eastern Nevada and western Utah (http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_6514111).

That sparked an angry response by SNWA chief Pat Mulroy (http://www.lvrj.com/news/8869507.html) and a friendly editorial in the Salt Lake Tribune (http://www.sltrib.com/ci_6520486).

Mulroy imputes nefarious motives among the legislators, claiming they are stalling or want to hog Snake Valley's "excess water" for the Wasatch Front and Cedar City. She claims environmental laws prevent any repeat of Owens Valley, where dust storms are one of the biggest environmental plagues in the US. But SNWA's sibling, the Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power, has used the courts and foot-dragging for decades to thwart and delay. SNWA has plenty of lawyers and deeeeeep pockets and could do the same thing to get around environmental laws. When negative impacts hit eastern Nevada and western Utah, I bet SNWA will want lots of long-range studies then -- while the water keeps flowing south.

Please contact the Utah congressional delegation and ask them to support BARCASS 2. A draft of BARCASS 1 was recently released but some hydrologists say it misrepresents the amount of water coming into and going out of Snake Valley. BARCASS 1 makes no attempt at evaluating the impacts of the massive SNWA scheme. BARCASS 2 would do that.

Lt. Gov. etc. to Snake Valley

Utah Department of Natural Resources chief and head negotiator for the UT-NV agreement Mike Styler will visit Snake Valley 3/23/07. He will bring UT water rights chief Boyd Clayton and, a bonus, UT Lt. Governor Gary Herbert.

While the exact schedule has not been finalized, they will be at Dean Baker's place in Baker at 9 am (all times UT time) to take Dean's water tour. Then they will have a meeting in the Garrison area late morning or early afternoon. They will travel to West Desert School for another meeting at 3:30 pm.

We need to (1) get an update on the agreement and (2) give them an update of our expectations and what is at stake here.

Also present will be the Juab County commissioners and the Millard County Commissioners. This is the first time the Juab commissioners will have been to West Desert as a group since the commission is almost brand new following the elections. They have offered to stick around after the meeting and talk to us about the water grab. The Millard County Commissioners will be at the Garrison meeting.

public meeting on Draft Snake valley (etc) groundwater report

 
What:  Public meeting

Who:   Kimball E. Goddard, 
           Director, USGS Nevada Water Science Center

When:  1:00 p.m., Monday, March 26, 2007

Where: Auditorium
          Utah Department of Natural Resources
          1594 West North Temple

Why:

A final review of the draft Basin and Range Carbonate Aquifer System Study (BARCASS), is nearing completion. The public draft report will be ready in July 2007. The six-million dollar project is being completed in an effort to improve the understanding of groundwater in Western Utah/Eastern Nevada (Snake Valley area).

Anyone interested in the latest scientific information about water resources in the remote part of Utah/Nevada, which is now embroiled in a controversy with Southern Nevada over the export of water to the Las Vegas area, is invited to attend.

public meeting on Draft Snake valley (etc) groundwater report

 
What:  Public meeting

Who:   Kimball E. Goddard, Director, USGS Nevada Water Science Center

When:  1:00 p.m., Monday, March 26, 2007

Where: Auditorium
       Utah Department of Natural Resources
       1594 West North Temple

Why:

A final review of the draft Basin and Range Carbonate Aquifer System Study (BARCASS), is nearing completion. The public draft report will be ready in July 2007. The six-million dollar project is being completed in an effort to improve the understanding of groundwater in Western Utah/Eastern Nevada (Snake Valley area).

Anyone interested in the latest scientific information about water resources in the remote part of Utah/Nevada, which is now embroiled in a controversy with Southern Nevada over the export of water to the Las Vegas area, is invited to attend.

Pot dissing the kettle

In a recent KCPW radio interview, SNWA's Pat Mulroy accused water grab opponents of being paranoid, fanatic, hysterics. You can hear her thoughts on that and on the Colorado River at KCPW - 1 March.

I watched one of the meetings of SNWA's integrated Water Planning Advisory Committee (IWPAC) in which Ms. Mulroy waxed hysterical about Utah stealing the recharge in Snake Valley because it originates mostly in the mountains of Nevada. (Ignoring the interstate sources of water coming into some other parts of Nevada, including the Colorado River.)

The main argument for the water grab from the southern end of the pipeline also has a hysterical quality: "We can't stop Nevada's economic engine (LV) or the state will dry up and blow away."

And when SNWA lawyers filed a motion with the NV State Engineer to disallow protests on SNWA's Spring Valley well applications because the protestants had done nothing in the 16 years of SNWA's inactivity -- that had a devious, desperate, almost hysterical ring to it.

See a transcript of the interview on Launce Rake's blog.

It's unanimous -- or at least unopposed

The Utah Legislature stepped to the plate and hit a home run. Both houses passed a joint resolution asking Governor Huntsman to wait for the best science possible before entering into an agreement with Nevada over Snake Valley water resources. The resolution also asked that a representative from Snake Valley be included on the negotiating team. Lt. Governor Herbert said the resolution helps Utah in the negotiations.

This is encouraging but much remains to be done.

Full reports can be found at Deseret News and Salt Lake Tribune.

Utah Senate passes joint resolution

The Utah Senate today passed a joint resolution (HJR001S01). You can see information about it at http://le.utah.gov/~2007/htmdoc/hbillhtm/hjr001.htm. The Utah House has already passed an almost identical resolution.

According to Steve Erickson, "This resolution expresses the unanimous will of the Utah Legislature that there should be no agreement between Utah and Nevada to allow Utah's water to be pumped to Las Vegas until all scientific studies regarding groundwater development are completed. This is a strong statement against the Las Vegas water grab and in support of protecting the lives and livelihoods of the residents of Utah's West Desert from the potentially disastrous impacts of groundwater mining."

Steve Erickson, director of the Citizens Education Project 801-554-9029