Some recent articles discuss the ruling;
"Notes on a skirmish"
by Emily Green
Posted on; March 5, 2010
"Goliath wasn’t really trying, didn’t really want to win and it never really was a contest. That’s the upshot of the response from the Southern Nevada Water Authority after a proposed amendment to do with its massive haul of water awards out of central Nevada failed to pass during the special session of state legislature, which closed early Monday.
Those opposing the amendment along with the SNWA’s proposed pipeline into the heart of the state claimed a huge victory. Dozens of Vegas lobbyists turned away! A great day for justice, the small man, everything good!
The Las Vegas water authority shrugged it off, saying that it had been working for the amendment in Carson City simply to help a beleaguered state natural resources agency protect thousands of water awards threatened as a byproduct of a nuisance suit brought by the pipeline protestors.
There was, to be sure, some swift and effective lawyering for the protestors in refusing to take the bait of a legislative fix and pushing hard for their case to be left in the courts, where since October they have scored a series of resounding successes. At stake: Rights down the line as to who may legally protest if valley by valley hearings for pipeline water are re-noticed and re-opened.
Further at stake: The right to appeal awards for the water-rich Spring Valley, the prize basin in the Las Vegas pipeline plan, whose water was possibly illegally awarded in 2007 and which looks likely to be re-divvied at some point in the future.
However, far more interesting than the details of the skirmish itself was the reaction of the legislature, which has hitherto backed Las Vegas. It was called into special session to deal with a budget crisis, not water. Nevada is bust after decades of a Vegas-driven boom. The state has too many people in too few industries who pay too little taxes.
As legislators faced sacking teachers and shutting down social services, sending in lobbyists from the casino and construction industry to take the corner of the Southern Nevada Water Authority and unfettered growth in Las Vegas was about as clever tactically as offering scotch to someone waiting for a liver transplant.
Who in their right mind would have passed legislation designed to resume the boom while neck high in the rubble of such a spectacular bust?
In other words, this wasn’t so much a case of a victory of pipeline protestors over the construction-casino complex of Southern Nevada as the construction-casino complex of Southern Nevada knocking itself out.
Pat Mulroy, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, has a habit of characterizing those who doubt her pipeline plan as people haters, Vegas haters, city haters, ie: Northern Nevadans.
Protestors love to characterize Pat Mulroy as the pit bull of the Las Vegas casino and construction industry.
To this observer, Pat Mulroy is a brilliant, highly competent water manager who is stuck because she has run out of water to manage. She’s as honest as Scarlett O’Hara and twice as theatrical. She may well be proved wrong on the pipe — it looks like she is — but let no one forget that in two decades, she’s saved Las Vegas more than once with her conservation programs. In a perfect world, she’d be snapped up by Los Angeles, whose gutters runneth over and whose Department of Water and Power has a general managership open.
As for you genius lobbyists who inadvertently but nonetheless quite effectively made the protestors’ case for them, some advice: Unless you enjoy getting pasted, rethink the line of how the city is doomed if its developers don’t get carte blanche to keep on building regardless of climate and location. The legislature is looking for rational cures, not more crap about the miracle in the desert. Time for you to follow suit.
No one in their right mind wants to see Las Vegas fail, least of all the legislators who early this week condemned Southern Nevada Water Authority lobbyists and the State Engineer’s office to the deliciously cruel punishment of workshops.
There were no losers in the latest pipeline skirmish. It was a win for Nevada."
article found @;
http://chanceofrain.com/2010/03/notes-on-a-skirmish/ also;
Mar. 04, 2010
"Water Grab Slapdown"
George Knapp, Las Vegas Citylife
"The reaction from the water authority to the legislative bitch slap dished out in Carson City this week is downright hilarious. The authority put on a full-court press, had a huge team of lobbyists, twisted arms, issued threats, called in the casino lobbyists, unions and developers, all in an effort to ram through an ill-conceived bill to essentially side-step a recent decision by the Nevada Supreme Court about water rights. The water crew pulled out every stop, even their patented boogeyman tactic (the sky will fall and all life on Earth will end if this bill isn't passed -- that was the essence of a late-inning letter handed out to all lawmakers).
And after all of that effort, after the authority got its ass kicked by a coalition of cowboys, Indians, enviros and rural officials, the water agency had the gall to issue a letter in which it acknowledged it would have been a bad idea to "hastily pass legislation during the waning hours," which was precisely what it tried so hard to do for the entire special session. From what I've been told, lawmakers weren't going to vote for this thing and resented being hammered about it over and over when their overwhelming priority during the session was the budget deficit. I think -- and hope -- the heavy-handed approach by the authority left a bitter taste in the mouths of legislators. Let's all hope they remember it when they reconvene in 2011."
entire article @;
http://www.lasvegascitylife.com/articles/2010/03/04/opinion/knappster/iq_34608259.txt other articles;
http://www.greatbasinwater.net/ Notes to Harry Reid;
How do you except people to trust your true intent on health care when you cover for developer Harvey Whittmore? The interests of your son who works directly for Whittmore providing legal counsel seems to be bending your ear a bit much with your protection of the SNWA pipeline!!
Whatever happened to Democrats being the party that protects the environment??