[Water_news] 5. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: AGENCIES, PROGRAMS, PEOPLE - 6/20/08

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

June 20, 2008

 

 

Five questions for Sen. Denise Moreno Ducheny about what's next for the Salton Sea

The Desert Sun – 6/20/08

 

Stakes will be high when state engineer hears SNWA request for Snake Valley water rights

Ely Times- 6/20/08

 

Native American group opposes water project

Desert News – 6/20/08

 

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Five questions for Sen. Denise Moreno Ducheny about what's next for the Salton Sea

The Desert Sun – 6/20/08

 

A conversation with Sen. Denise Moreno Ducheny about what's next for the Salton Sea.

 

Senate Bill 1256, which would would have created an oversight committee, is dead, and another, SB 187, to allocate funding to restore the sea, is stalled. What should happen now?

 

The funding is in the budget. Activities on restoration will continue. It would be beneficial to get SB 187 passed out of the Legislature this year so that more direction is provided with a framework for the beginning activities for restoration. It provides an important framework for early-start activities and provides legislative direction to the administration to start those no regrets necessary early implementation projects. Finally, it provides a stronger signal to the federal government and local governments as well that the state is moving forward on the restoration project.

 

How does a delay in the restoration process affect getting it back on track later?

 

It does delay us a bit. The state agencies, the Department of Water Resources and the Department of Fish and Game, charged with monitoring and assessment are limited in the scope of work they can do without a legislative directive. The federal agencies are waiting for the state Legislature to approve the "Preferred Alternative," so the federal lawmakers can more effectively push for funding.

 

What about the $10 million in the budget to do restoration work? How does this influence how that money is used?

 

The $10 million in the budget was for Salton Sea monitoring and assessment work. SB 1256 does not affect how this money is used and the work proposed in the budget will continue.

 

Can restoration continue without creating an agency to oversee restoration?

 

Yes. Restoration can continue. The early start habitat restoration, air and water quality monitoring are funded again this year and will proceed. However, without legislative direction there will be a point at which the state will not be able to proceed with the proposed preferred alternative. SB 1256 would have provided the necessary legislative direction and would have provided a balanced structure between state and local interests that would help decide the direction of the restoration program in the future.

 

What if nothing happens within the next 5-10 years?

 

The window for restoration is pushed back that much further. I would also say, waiting 5-10 years is not an option in that the required water transfer is set to occur in 2017. Without a plan and the necessary restoration activities taking place now, it will be difficult to keep on the short timeline that we need.#

http://www.mydesert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080620/NEWS01/806200363/1006/news01

 

 

 

Stakes will be high when state engineer hears SNWA request for Snake Valley water rights

Ely Times- 6/20/08

By John Plestina

The stakes are high in the view of many Snake Valley ranchers as fights over water are as old as sagebrush in the West. A major portion of the Eastern Nevada water rights sought by the Southern Nevada Water Authority will be considered at a hearing beginning next month.

The Nevada State Engineer will hold the hearing to determine if the Southern Nevada Water Authority's applications to extract groundwater in Snake Valley will be granted, altered to a lesser amount of water or denied. The first phase of the hearing process will be a half-day pre-hearing conference on July 15. After that, the hearing will reconvene in January.

White Pine County must be represented at the pre-hearing as a protester to the SNWA's water rights applications, said attorney Simeon Herskovits of Taos, N.M., who represents several protesters to the SNWA's plan to acquire water rights and pipe water to Clark County. He is affiliated with Advocates for Communities and Environment, a non-profit organization. Herskovits said his clients for the hearing include White Pine County, the Lund Irrigation Company, Preston Irrigation Company, several White Pine County ranchers and the Sierra Club.

The White Pine County Commission met in a closed executive session with Herskovits on June 11 to discuss strategy.

In open session, Herskovits recommended that the county be fully engaged in the hearing.

“I think there is even more to bring to light in the Snake Valley Hearings,” Herskovits said.

He said neighboring Millard County, Utah, is also protesting the SNWA proposal. Herskovits is not representing Millard County. And, he added, “there are other counties in Utah that will be affected.”

Commissioner Gary Lane said he spoke to a Millard County commissioner and was told that Millard County is interested in participating in the hearing.

Herskovits encouraged White Pine County officials to keep in touch with those in Millard County opposing the SNWA proposal and other protesters.

The commission voted to accept Herskovits' recommendation to participate in the Snake Valley hearing.

The pre-hearing will be held at the Nevada Legislature, 401 South Carson Street, Room 1214, Carson City, on Tuesday, July 15. at 9:30 a.m.

The State Engineer has arranged for the proceeding to be broadcast over the internet from the Legislative Building. It is not yet known whether a video link will be set up at the White Pine County Cooperative Extension Office, 995 Campton Street for local residents to view the pre-hearing. A video link was set up in Ely for the hearing on the SNWA applications for water rights in Cave, Dry Lake and Delmare valleys in February.#

http://www.elynews.com/articles/2008/06/19/news/news09.txt

 

 

 

Native American group opposes water project

Desert News – 6/20/08

By Dennis Romboy

 

The National Congress of American Indians has approved a resolution opposing a controversial project to pump water from western Utah and eastern Nevada deserts to Las Vegas.

 

The congress, comprised of Native American tribes nationwide, contends the plan would lower Great Basin groundwater tables, dry up springs and wells that sustain those lands and irreparably harm plants, animals and people.

 

"It's the center of life. There is no life without water," said Fermina Stevens, administrator of the Elko Band of the Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone.

 

Water, she said, is tied to the tribe's culture and spirituality.

 

The NCAI resolution demands the Nevada state engineer "respect the Great Basin Tribes' right to continued physical, economic cultural and spiritual survival ... "

 

Whether the resolution, passed at NCAI meetings in Reno earlier this month, carries any weight with the state engineer and the Bureau of Land Management remains to be seen.

 

"We hope they would take a look at the problem and our concerns," Stevens said.

 

The Southern Nevada Water Authority wants to build a pipeline to carry as much as 16 million gallons of water a year from Snake Valley, which straddles the Utah-Nevada line, to rapidly growing Las Vegas. Snake Valley includes the arid Great Basin National Park.

 

"The more we know about the Las Vegas water grab, the worse it looks," said Launce Rake of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, which opposes the project.

 

Developers, he said, are the ones calling the shots. "It's about profit. It's always been about profit."

 

Rake says the NCAI resolution doesn't have any official influence but "I'm sure the Southern Nevada Water Authority is not happy to see this."

 

Authority spokesman J.C. Davis said he was vaguely aware of the resolution. Its impact is not a question for the authority but for the BLM and the Nevada state engineer.

 

Davis said the authority's request has been mischaracterized as a water grab.

 

 

 

 

 

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