Editorial: Agreement a plus for water

Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2006 | 7:16 a.m.

Opponents may disagree, but the case for pumping excess water here from the Spring Valley area of White Pine County was made stronger when the Interior Department dropped its protest against the long-planned, $2 billion proposed project.

Hearings on the project began Monday in Carson City, and the Interior Department entered into an agreement with the Southern Nevada Water Authority on Sunday. A lingering protest by the Interior Department's agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, would probably have diminished the project's chances of getting the go-ahead from the state engineer.

Bob Fulkerson, director of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada and a leader in opposing the Water Authority's plan, said the agreement with the Interior Department won't change the opponents' case. But he did add that his group was "incredibly disappointed" by the department's action.

We are not disappointed, however. Interior's agreement with the Water Authority stipulates that Spring Valley's deep ground water must be monitored and that any unreasonable environmental impacts must be mitigated. This agreement relieves the Water Authority from having to counter a powerful protest, and it further strengthens its previous commitments to safeguarding the ground water that enables Spring Valley's ranching economy.

This water project is Southern Nevada's best defense against the ongoing drought. Without it, our growth, and the taxes it generates, would end within 10 years and negatively affect the whole state.