Elko County gets extension from feds on Jarbidge road dispute

Tuesday, Sept. 7, 1999 | 2:37 a.m.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ELKO, Nev. - Nevada U.S. Attorney Kathryn Landreth has granted Elko County an extension from a deadline to either pay or face a lawsuit over a dispute centering on repairs to a remote road in Jarbidge.

Landreth agreed to give the county more time to consider its response to the a threatened lawsuit by the Justice Department at the request of U.S. Sens. Richard Bryan and Harry Reid.

"I think it is important at this point for the parties to sit down and talk and see if we can work ourselves out of this," Bryan said.

Both Bryan and Reid contacted Landreth on Friday in efforts to ward off the threatened lawsuit.

Kristin McQueary, the county's chief civil deputy district attorney, sought an extension to the Sept. 10 deadline set in an Aug. 30 letter of ultimatum from the U.S. Attorney's office.

A draft complaint from the Justice Department alleges Elko County trespassed on U.S. Forest Service land and violated the Clean Water Act when county road crews set out to repair flood-damaged South Canyon Road in Jarbidge on July 21 and July 22, 1998.

In asking for an extension, McQueary said the county commission did not have an adequate opportunity to respond to the threatened suit before its next regularly scheduled meeting on Sept. 15.

In serving notice of the government's intent to sue the county, Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre proposed "informal" negotiations to settle the dispute but stated, "Please do not interpret our willingness to discuss settlement as any lack of resolve to be made whole for the damages inflicted by Elko County."

The draft complaint accuses Elko County of trespassing on federal land with bulldozers and other heavy equipment in an attempt to redivert the Jarbidge River and restore the road.

It also charges that debris from the bulldozer work polluted the river in violation of the federal Clean Water Act.

"As a direct and immediate result of these acts, the United States sustained damages in excess of several hundred thousand dollars as it worked to restore and stabilize the damage done to the land by the commission," Myhre wrote.

The federal action is separate from Elko County's decision Aug. 16 to dispute a Nevada Environmental Commission ruling that the county violated state laws by carrying out the road repairs without proper permits.

McQueary, in a legal brief outlining the county's case, maintained that failure by the U.S. Forest Service to repair the 900-foot section of road as promised warranted the county's emergency action in order to maintain public safety.

"The work which the county initiated was typically maintenance work," McQueary said. "The county has never been required previously to get a permit for regular maintenance."