SCIENCE & LAW vs. POWER & MONEY
Rose Strickland

Stunning upsets to the Southern Nevada Water Authority's proposal to pipe rural groundwater to Las Vegas continue in 2010, first with a Nevada Supreme Court ruling in favor of the Great Basin Water Network ( ) and then with SNWA's startling failure to undermine that ruling with a strong-armed push for a hasty legislative fix during February's Special Session which was called to resolve Nevada state budget deficits.

In 2006, the GBWN filed a due process lawsuit when hundreds of 1990 protestants, their descendants and new residents were barred from participating in state water hearings on the massive water exportation project proposed in 1989. After a lower court rejection, an appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court resulted on January 28, 2010 in a 7 to 0 ruling in which the justices affirmed the constitutional right to due process.

This ruling has left the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) scrambling to use its apparently unlimited financial and political power to convince the State Legislature that a hasty "fix" was needed at the 5-day session called by the Governor in late February, 2010. When state officials interpreted the ruling very broadly as applying to all water rights decisions since 1947 and therefore upsetting the priorities for water rights, a rush to file new applications by SNWA, Vidler Water Company and others resulted, creating a "crisis."

At the end of the Special Session, SNWA's lobbyists and others failed to convince first the Nevada Senate and then the Assembly to adopt hastily developed amendments to Nevada's water law. The legislature was persuaded not to fix SNWA's problems for many reasons. These included unresolvable issues of due process and the separation of powers (i.e. legislative meddling in judicial proceedings).

In addition, legislators testified about their frank fear that a quick legislative decision without any opportunity for the affected public to testify might result in worse problems.

Instead, the Legislature issued a letter to the State Engineer urging him to work on any problems not resolved by the Nevada Supreme Court.

Will science and the law prevail over political power and money in the Nevada water wars? Stay tuned.

For more news on these court and legislative victories in our water campaign, go to: http://greatbasinwaternetwork.org