Groups oppose lobbyist’s housing project

Thursday, Aug. 16, 2001 | 11:09 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Plans to develop a community of up to 50,000 residents in the desert 50 miles northeast of Las Vegas have drawn opposition from three conservation groups that suggest there is a lack of adequate water.

The Southern Nevada Group of the Sierra Club, the Red Rock Audubon Society and the Nevada Outdoor Recreation Association all recommend there be more studies before the state engineer grants permits to drill for water for the Coyote Springs project, being pushed by Reno attorney and lobbyist Harvey Whittemore.

Whittemore is confident there is enough water in the deep rock aquifers to support both his applications and those of the Las Vegas Valley Water District. In his 15 applications he is asking for 108,000 acre feet. The district seeks 27,000 acre feet to supplement water supplies in the Las Vegas Valley.

An acre foot is enough water to supply a family of four to five for a year.

At a public hearing Tuesday in Las Vegas, the three groups, either in person or by letter, suggested a go-slow approach by the state engineer in granting any permits in rural Nevada.

"At this time it would be a huge mistake to approve any applications for appropriation of ground water in Coyote Spring Valley," John Hiatt, conservation chair of the Audubon Society, said.

"It is incumbent on the state water engineer (Hugh Ricci) to verify that any ground water withdrawal for urban purposes be shown to be indefinitely sustainable or that a guaranteed alternative source be available before granting a water right."

Jane Feldman, conservation co-chairwoman of the Sierra Club, urged Ricci to go slow in granting any applications. "More time and more studies are needed. Water rights should be granted slowly, in small increments, to support necessary, well-planned development just in time for the development to proceed."

Whittemore and Loeb acquired the 42,000 acres from Aerojet, which had obtained the land for a testing facility in a swap with the federal government. It is east of Highway 93 and north of State Route 168. One-third of the land is in Clark County and the remainder in Lincoln County.

The developers say it is uncertain what the impact will be if they are allowed to drill into the carbonate aquifers. They believe the effects won't be known until there is an opportunity to assess long-term pumping.

In a prior application for a smaller amount of water in another part of Southern Nevada, Ricci granted approval for the Las Vegas Valley Water District on the conditions it monitor the impacts and be ready with a plan to correct any adverse effect.

But the three conservation groups rejected that approach.

"Proposals for appropriation with required monitoring are a sham, because by the time the parties pumping the water and their lawyers are willing to agree that the aquifer is suffering, it will be too late to repair the damage," Hiatt said.

If the aquifer is depleted, asked Charles Watson, of the Nevada Outdoor Recreation Association, where will the new water come from to support the community?

The groups suggest water will be drained away from the Muddy River, and the Sierra Club complained the proposed development would amount to "leapfrog urban sprawl."

The testimony submitted to Joseph-Taylor also said the state should remember what happened in the Amargosa Valley when developers got rights to drill for wells. It lowered the water table of Devil's Hole, home to the endangered pupfish, and threatened their survival.