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Ruling gives fed government victory in water rights dispute

Wednesday, July 25, 2001 | 10:15 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The Nevada Supreme Court has handed the federal government a victory over the state in the battle over water rights.

In a 6-1 decision, the court said the state engineer's office was wrong when it refused to approve nine applications for the Bureau of Land Management for livestock watering rights in Douglas County in 1997.

Bob Stewart, a spokesman for the BLM in Nevada, said the BLM was committed to assuring there will be appropriate water development through cooperative agreements with the state.

The BLM sought the water to grant water rights to individuals who had grazing permits on the government's land.

Mike Turnipseed, director of the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and then-state engineer, ruled the BLM was not a qualified applicant for a livestock water permit. He could not be reached for comment.

The BLM said it was legally entitled to place livestock on the lands, even though it didn't own cattle.

Turnipseed reasons that the BLM did not possess a grazing permit or a lease to the land, so it could not qualify for a stockwater permit.

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