Nevada Pipeline Victory Upheld

In January, the Center for Biological Diversity — as part of the Great Basin Water Network — won a big victory in Nevada when the state’s supreme court overturned dozens of water-rights applications to pump groundwater nearly 300 miles for Las Vegas sprawl. In an attempt to fight back for the pipeline, Governor Jim Gibbons instructed the Nevada legislature to change state law to retroactively legalize water awards made since 1947 — rendering our victory moot. Fortunately, this week the legislature announced it won’t consider the governor’s underhanded tactics on behalf of the Southern Nevada Water Authority — which is behind the water-pumping project. The Center and many allies wrote dozens of emails and made dozens of calls to the legislature to make sure lawmakers knew the right thing to do — and they did it.

The massive water grab would cause widespread desertification and would probably mean the end for imperiled desert spring snails and fish like the endangered Moapa dace.

Read more in this Chance of Rain blog:

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/center/articles/2010/chance-of-rain-02-25-2010.html