Attorney general’s decision favors ranchers

Tuesday, Feb. 18, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

"The attorney general normally goes with the federal government on these types of issues," state Sen. Dean Rhoads told the Elko Daily Free Press. "It really is amazing that the opinion came out the way it did."

The finding upholds the constitutionality of a 1995 state law and states that the BLM cannot hold stock watering rights because the agency does not own livestock.

The law states the watering permits and certificates of appropriations are limited to those applicants who are "legally entitled to place the livestock on the public lands for which the permit is being sought."

Rhoads, R-Tuscarora, wrote the bill and said the opinion upholding it will be felt all the way to Capitol Hill.

"This has been a truly historical ruling and will send shock waves to the other western public land states on Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt's range land reform proposal," Rhoads said.

Elko County Commissioner Llee Chapman, who also serves on the Humboldt River Basin Water Authority, said the opinion is a common-sense statement.

"It upholds the state concept that if you file for a right, then you have to use the same thing you applied for," Chapman said.

Gene Gustin, chairman of Elko County's Public Land Use Advisory Commission, said the law issues a challenge to Babbitt.

"I think it's going to disarm one of the major tenets of this so-called range land reform," Gustin said.

Gustin said the county has several protests on file against federal agencies seeking water rights and the opinion reinforces those protests.

Spring Creek resident Ed Presley, an outspoken opponent of any federal interference in state issues, said he was surprised by the opinion, but maintained a healthy skepticism, given its source.

"This is a breath of fresh air in the restoration of constitutional law," he said. "However, I'm always a little leery whenever the scoundrels do the right thing. I just wonder if she's looking at the political aspect of all this."