Friday, Dec. 22, 2006 | 7:08 a.m.
The federal Bureau of Reclamation is preparing to fire an employee who provided environmentalists with information on a planned, Nevada-funded project to build a huge reservoir to capture Colorado River water near the Mexican border.
Charles Rex Wahl, an environmental protection specialist for the Bureau of Reclamation's Albuquerque office, worked for more than two years in the agency's Yuma, Ariz., office. During that time, he provided information on the bureau's activities to an analyst with Environmental Defense, a national environmental group.
Bureau managers say the "administratively controlled" information was confidential, for internal purposes .
The bureau said it discovered at least 10 e-mails that revealed confidential information after Wahl was transferred to Albuquerque, and his supervisor looked through Wahl's e-mail to see whether any documents needed to be acted upon or completed.
Most of the e-mails are casual in character, although they discuss some of the bureau's biggest projects along the Colorado River.
A government description of his job, which paid more than $60,000 annually, was to manage "all elements of assigned National Environmental Policy Act compliance activities associated with actions and initiatives of the Yuma Area Office."
In practice that meant interacting with the public, environmental groups and other agencies, providing information and providing input on policy issues to his managers at the bureau.
Representatives for Wahl say the information was public - or should have been - and he was responding to requests for information from other agencies or nonprofit groups.
The Bureau of Reclamation manages river flows on the Colorado River through lakes Powell and Mead, and works closely with water agencies, including the Southern Nevada Water Authority, to supply water for more than 20 million people and millions of acres of agriculture in Southern California, Arizona and Nevada.
Federal investigators cited numerous e-mails from Wahl to Environmental Defense and two other federal agencies, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, that were discovered after Wahl left the Yuma office in May.
One issue that Wahl provided information on was the proposed Drop 2 reservoir that would capture Colorado River water before it reaches Mexico's Sea of Cortez. Some environmentalists are concerned that the reservoir and an accompanying project, lining of the All-American Canal near the Mexican border, will adversely affect rare wildlife in the Colorado River delta and nearby desert.
President Bush on Wednesday signed legislation authorizing the two water projects, and designating the Southern Nevada Water Authority as the source for funding of the $84 million reservoir project. In exchange for funding the reservoir, the Water Authority could, for up to seven years, take enough water from Lake Mead to serve about 120,000 households.
In its intent-to-terminate letter, the bureau accused Wahl of being "in regular contact with organizations who you described as having an adversarial relationship with the Yuma office and who you believed had threatened litigation over the proposed Drop 2 Project."
Wahl also identified specific documents that environmentalists could request under the Freedom of Information Act.
The government specifically complained that Wahl released internal management information regarding the seismic stability of a river-water desalting plant in Yuma.
Releasing that information "was subversive in nature and hindered the accomplishment of agency work," Assistant Area Manager Arthur Valverde said in a September letter spelling out the reason for Wahl's termination.
Bureau spokesman Barry Wirth declined to comment on the issue.
"The Bureau of Reclamation," he said, "is unable to comment on pending actions regarding human resource activities."
Wahl declined to comment about the termination. He is being represented by the national environmental group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. The Washington, D.C.-based group noted that Wahl's wife, a temporary clerk typist in the Albuquerque office, was also fired.
Paula Dinerstein, the group's senior counsel, said Wahl was fired for doing his job - providing environmental information to groups with an interest in the bureau's activities.
"These charges are both insulting and illegal. Public servants cannot be fired simply for telling inconvenient truths," she said. "Part of the Bureau of Reclamation's problem is that it apparently regards environmentalists as enemies."
Dinerstein said that she expects to have a formal notice of "final action" terminating the employee, who has been on leave since September, within several weeks. Wahl's legal representatives are arguing the bureau is breaking national environmental laws in the termination. Wahl, a civil servant, also has a guaranteed appeal process.
The problem is not with Wahl but with the bureau, Dinerstein said.
"The Bureau of Reclamation, particularly the office that he was in Yuma, Ariz., was really making a mockery of public compliance. It was trying to avoid public comment and trying to avoid compliance with the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act.
"Mr. Wahl was trying to do his job as an environmental officer. He was trying to do the job that he was told to do in terms of his job description. Apparently that wasn't really what they wanted him to do."
Six environmental groups are trying to halt plans to take ground water out of northern Clark County in a complex effort to gain Lake Mead water credits, because they fear it will leave a tiny desert minnow high and dry.
The environmentalists contend that the effort to pull water from Moapa and Coyote valleys could push the endangered 3-inch Moapa dace toward extinction.
The plan is one in an ambitious series of projects that would allow authorities to tap dwindling Colorado River water to support the increasingly thirsty region, provoking a collective howl of protest from environmental groups.
The Southern Nevada Water Authority promised water for the endangered minnows in April, while also announcing plans to withdraw more than 16,000 acre-feet of water annually - more than 5 billion gallons - from wells in the two valleys. The water would flow to the Muddy River, which drains into Lake Mead. In return for the increased flows, the agency hopes to win approval for the right to take more water from the lake.
But the environmental groups say that the drawdown will degrade the Moapa Valley National Wildlife Refuge and jeopardize the dace, which already is imperiled by limited ground water.
The groups argue that the water plan, involving the Water Authority, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Moapa Valley Water District, the Moapa Band of Paiutes and a Reno-based development company, violates the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.
The environmentalists gave notice this month of their intention to sue unless the parties address the threats to the dace. The plaintiffs include Defenders of Wildlife, the Great Basin Water Network, Nevada Outdoor Recreation Association, the Nevada Wildlife Federation, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and the Red Rock Audubon Society.
They complain that the Fish and Wildlife Service is giving way to the Water Authority and its partners without opening up the process for public comment.
Bob Williams, Fish and Wildlife statewide director, said the agreement with the Water Authority doesn't abrogate his agency's commitment to protect the Moapa dace.
If pumping of ground water affects the endangered fish, Fish and Wildlife is prepared to go back and protect its water rights, Williams said.
John Entsinger, Water Authority deputy counsel, said the agreement would actually lead to an increase in water dedicated specifically to the minnow's recovery. He also noted that the authority bought Warm Springs Ranch, the habitat for 80 percent of the existing dace population, earlier this year.
The $70 million purchase of the 1,200-acre ranch promises to protect the 3-inch dace from larger and hungrier tilapia, a fish that is "a far greater threat to the dace than fluctuations in spring flow," Entsinger said.
Daniel Patterson, Southwest regional director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, said the latest salvo is part of an ongoing fight between environmental groups and government agencies .
The core issue is growth in the desert, and that is a tough fight, he said.
"There's a lot of money. There's a lot of political clout," Patterson said. "Decisions are being made now that could end up being big problems for large numbers of people."
Other issues include:
John Hiatt, conservation committee chairman for Southern Nevada's Red Rock Audubon Society, said the Moapa dace issue and others put a spotlight on the Water Authority, an agency that trumpets its environmental stewardship in advertising campaigns.
"I think the (Water Authority's) biologists care about the environment, but I don't think the biologists are making the decisions about this," he said. "I have a lot of respect for the people there, but in the end the political pressure is all about the water."
Brian Segee, staff attorney with Defenders of Wildlife, said there is a common thread among Water Authority projects.
"A shared characteristic of many of the projects is a move to limit public participation," Segee said. "There are decisions that are being made on a regional level or a national level that are being done behind closed doors. Our goal is not to obstruct projects, but to ensure that environmental issues are fully considered before decisions are made."
Segee said years of drought and growing demand are pushing local and federal agencies to approve big projects before their effects are fully understood.
"In the rush to reach those end points," he said, "they may find that they are actually creating more problems and more delays than if they had dealt with some of these issues up front."
Pat Mulroy, authority general manager, said her agency is committed to environmental protection. "Responsibly managing a water supply requires that you carefully manage the environment that surrounds it," she said.
The Water Authority has been a "staunch advocate" for a plan to protect habitat for endangered species in the Colorado River, has supported water quality and erosion-control efforts in the Las Vegas Wash, and is a partner in developing Las Vegas Springs Preserve, she said.
"We firmly believe that, if managed wisely, there is enough water available both to support people and to maintain a healthy environment," she said.
Some environmentalists defend the Water Authority's efforts.
"For years now Pat has been one of the few leaders in the lower basin water establishment that has spoken repeatedly on the need to address the environmental issues in the Colorado River Delta," said Jennifer Pitt, a resource analyst for Environmental Defense, a nationwide organization. Earlier this month she spoke at the Water Authority-sponsored Colorado River Water Users Association meeting.
Launce Rake can be reached at 259-4127 or at [email protected].
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