Leaders scuttle Lincoln County-Vidler water deal

Tuesday, May 27, 2003 | 9:57 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- In an unusual display of power politics, Assembly leaders scuttled a vote on a controversial bill to allow Lincoln County to join with a private company to develop its water resources.

The Assembly Government Affairs Committee had voted 10-3 on May 16 on Senate Bill 487, which would legalize a contract between Lincoln County and Vidler Water Co.

But committee Chairman Mark Manendo, D-Las Vegas, pigeonholed the bill, never sending it to the full Assembly for a vote. A week elapsed between the committee vote and the death of SB487 Friday, when the deadline passed for approval of Senate bills by the Assembly.

Some environmentalists and Clark County interests had opposed the measure.

Manendo, who had voted against the bill in committee, said Vidler didn't have the votes on the floor to get it passed, but Mark Fiorentino, attorney for Lincoln County and Vidler, disagreed.

"I believe I had the votes," Fiorentino said.

Manendo said several people talked to him about opposing the bill, but he said he could not remember who they were.

When asked if Democratic leadership told him to bury the bill in his desk, he replied, "Talk to Barbara," referring to Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas.

Buckley said Saturday there were many Assembly members who were "very concerned and did not want to see it come to the floor."

Fiorentino said he was never told why Manendo was ordered to keep the bill in his desk rather than going through the normal procedure of reporting out of committee a bill that had been recommended for approval.

Buckley agreed it was an unusual procedure, but she said she met with Vidler representatives and told them they did not have the votes. She said many lawmakers wanted more time to study the issue, which involves a major policy change.

The bill arrived in the Government Affairs Committee April 22 and was voted out May 16.

The bill was introduced to clarify that Vidler's contract with Lincoln County was valid. Vidler, the largest private landholder in Nevada, agreed to put up front money and then split the profits in any water sales with the county.

After the contract was signed, then-Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa issued a legal opinion the contract was not valid. So Lincoln County and Vidler approached the Legislature to get a change in the law.

Critics claimed it would lead to speculation in water sales, a natural resource that belongs to the public. Some feared that Vidler would develop water that would be made available to Clark County for a higher price than if the Southern Nevada Water Authority was able to pump groundwater in Lincoln County and transport it to Las Vegas.

Others feared the water would be sold out of state.

Buckley said she ran an independent poll of Assembly members and said the majority was opposed.

Lincoln County, one of the poorest counties in the state, sees this agreement with Vidler as a way to promote economic development.