Nevada Tribes Walk 272 Miles to Protest SNWA Pipeline (tags)
On Saturday, Native Americans representing the Confederate Tribes of the Goshute Reservation, Wells Colony, Elko/TeMoke Tribe, Battle Mountain and Yomba Shoshone along with Tribal members from the Northern Ute, Cheyenne-Arapaho, Navajo, Cherokee and non-natives began a run/walk from Wells to Caliente, traveling about 272 miles in protest of Southern Nevada Water Authority’s groundwater project.
Water Theft from Aquifers Benefit Developers at Expense of Ecosystems (tags)
Water theft from rural aquifers for the short term benefit of Las Vegas developers is a crime against the ecosystems and human communities that depend upon their water for survival. The theft of the aquifer water by SNWA is a sequel of the Owens Valley water grab by LADWP nearly a century ago. Any ELF actvists looking for training sites have over 200 miles of practice targets if this pipeline goes through. Maybe someone should send LADWP a message that water theft can be stopped by preventing transport. When the pipeline is ruptured in numerous places this water theft will become a more costly endeavor! The LADWP and SNWA needs to stop stealing water from aquifers and desert lakes!
BLM Support of SNWA Pipeline is "Pure Folly" (tags)
The decision last week by the BLM to support the SNWA pipeline shows their disregard for science and inability to protect species that are under their watch. The developers who plan projects like Coyote Springs 50 miles north of Las Vegas are dependent upon this pipeline, NOT Las Vegas. Just more hype so that some developers (Whittemore/Seeno/etc...) can profit at the expense of the desert spring ecosystems in Snake and Spring Valleys. There isn't enough water in these aquifers to support the suburban sprawl of Coyote Springs 100,000 homes, golf courses, etc...
LADWP pulls leases under dry lake air monitors (tags)
They’re still doing it. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has, for decades, used its land ownership to manipulate life in the Owens Valley. The latest DWP maneuver cancels leases for land under three of the Air Pollution Control District’s Owens Dry Lake air monitors. LADWP doesn’t like what the air monitors are showing.
CNRWA Held Great Basin Water Forum 2012 in Carson City, NV (tags)
The Central Nevada Regional Water Authority held the Great Basin Water Forum on 11/13 in Carson City, NV to discuss ways to protect groundwater from being exported by the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) via a 200 mile long pipeline against the wishes of locals and despite warnings of aquifer ecosystem collapse by many scientists.
Spring Snails Survival Threatened by SNWA Pipeline (tags)
The spring snails of the Great Basin region are threatened by construction of the SNWA pipeline to Las Vegas. Spring snails are vital as primary consumer herbivores to reduce algae and thereby prevent eutrophication, also being the base of the trophic food web pyramid that supports trout, eagles and humans. Spring snails should be protected under ESA and are more valuable than golf courses and sprawl development north of Las Vegas.
BLM’s new “alternative” on Vegas pipe (tags)
Ever heard of the Council on Environmental Quality? Chaired by former LA Deputy Mayor Nancy Sutley, it’s a White House office that according to its website ”coordinates Federal environmental efforts.” To judge by a recent update from the Bureau of Land Management, Sutley’s office may just hold the key for a compromise in a long-running battle over rural groundwater between Utah and Nevada. Using powers supposedly afforded by the Council, the Bureau is adding a new alternative to an environmental impact statement that may allow Vegas to pump and Utah to keep its water too. The only clear loser is the environment.
Owens Lake Reminders for SNWA Pipeline’s Water Grab from Northern Aquifers (tags)
The recent decision by the NV State Engineer to support the SNWA's proposed pipeline follows the same tactics used by San Fernando Valley developers who removed water from Owens Lake and Valley by using deception and purchasing land and favors from government officials.
NV State Engineer Rules Against Goshute Tribe and in Favor of SNWA Pipeline (tags)
The Nevada State Engineer's decision last week supports the SNWA proposed pipeline despite numerous objections from the indigenous Goshute Nation and many other scientists who warn that the finite aquifers of the Snake and Spring Valley targeted by the SNWA pipeline would not sustain this amount of extraction without causing ecosystem collapse as springs dry and species become extinct. It could be said that removal of water from the sovereign Goshute Nation by the SNWA is a form of cultural genocide.
Response 2 SNWA; NO Water Theft 4 Developers! (tags)
This report is one of many public comments given throughout several locations in Nevada in opposition to the proposed SNWA 300 mile pipeline from the Snake and Spring Valley aquifer system to provide water for developers like Harvey Whittemore (Coyote Springs, U.S. 93 & NV 189), KB Homes and other developers interested in furthering the suburban sprawl outside of Las Vegas despite many homes remaining unoccupied and in foreclosure. The developers revealed their true motives as the only comments in favor of the SNWA pipeline were from homebuilders associations and other construction related industries.
NV; Oct. 7 - Public Comment on SNWA Pipeline (tags)
Please help the Great Basin Water Network, indigenous tribes and many others in voicing their opposition to the SNWA's proposed pipeline from the Snake and Spring Valler aquifer system to Las Vegas that is being planned mostly for the benefit of suburban sprawl developers like Harvey Whittemore. The public hearing will be held in Carson City, though this planned extraction of 41 billion gallons per year will destroy an ecosystem that connects to Great Basin National Park and is a national resource that is for all to share in it's natural state, NOT to water Mr. Whittemore's 16 planned golf courses and 100,000 more homes for sprawl development nearly 50 miles north of the urban core of Las Vegas!
NV; Fatality from Ruby Pipeline Construction (tags)
El Paso corporation's rush to complete the Ruby Pipeline in northern Nevada resulted in a worker's fatality as safety procedures were skipped and work continued despite the frigid temps and icy surfaces. The time required to complete this project is being shortened by the corporate profit motive, and the human nature to make serious mistakes is increased as workers grow weary from long hours and colder temperatures.
Rainwater Harvesting; Alternatives to SNWA Pipeline Project (tags)
Another option for Las Vegas is to outfit roofs with rainwater harvesting systems, both for collecting water and to reduce runoff that creates flash floods. This would create jobs and result in permanant solutions to increasing water supplies, unlike the SNWA's proposed pipeline from the Snake Valley aquifer that would cost billions and most likely overdraft the aquifer in less than 10 years time. Though the pipeline's promise of indefinite future supplies (real or imagined) could make some developers like Harvey Whittemore happy in the short term!!
NV; New Cave Species at Risk from SNWA Pipeline (tags)
Two new cave species were discovered near Great Basin Natn'l Park's Lehman Caves, part of the same cave aquifer system that SNWA plans to pump billions of gallons away from with their proposed pipeline. The species found were a shrimp called an ostracod and a cave millipede. Both depend on groundwater in caves that would be taken to Whittemore's suburban sprawl developments outside of Vegas city limits.
SNWA's 300 Mile Pipeline to Las Vegas Faces Growing Opposition (tags)
At a recent SNWA board meeting, the SNWA's proposed 300 mile pipeline from Snake Valley aquifer to Las Vegas has met with a few bumps in the road, mainly strong public opposition and increasing hesitancy on the part of SNWA board members to jump into this plan without a safety net. Though the SNWA board voted to continue seeking an EIS for the pipeline, the reality of future costs and risks of an overdrawn aquifer made several board members question their previous zealotry in following Gen. Manager Pat Mulroy down her pipeline's path for much longer.
Gambling with Extinction; Snails, Dace, Chub & Trout Threatened by SNWA Pipeline to Vegas (tags)
Petition for endangered species status and a lawsuit by conservation groups to protect spring snails could delay or even stop the destructive aquifer draining pipeline to Las Vegas proposed by SNWA.
Help Las Vegas Conserve Water! No Aquifer Drawdown! (tags)
We need your help to protect the Snake and Spring Valley aquifers from being drawn down by Las Vegas water demands. One way people can help is to encourage a diversity of water conservation measures that Las Vegas and Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) could try as alternatives to pumping and draining distant aquifers yet intact. People are given the chance to send SNWA their ideas for abstracts for an upcoming Water Innovations Conference later in '09, abstracts due by 1/30/09. Even if you cannot go there, send them your ideas for water conservation anyway!!
Snake & Spring Valley Aquifer Water Conservation (NV) (tags)
There are several reasons to avoid the proposed pipeline project diverting water from the Snake and Spring Valley aquifers to the Las Vegas region as planned by Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA). This report will provide background information as to the physical and geological characteristics of the two aquifers mentioned above, including ecological components most likely affected by potential overdraft from the SNWA pipeline.
Let Malibu Burn: A political history of the Fire Coast Mike Davis (tags)
Fire in Malibu has a relentless, staccato rhythm. The rugged coastline is scourged by a large fire, on average, every two and a half years, and at least once a decade a blaze in the chaparral grows into a terrifying firestorm consuming hundreds of homes in an inexorable march across the mountains to the sea. In one week last month, 10 homes and 14,000 acres of brush went up in smoke.
Nevada and Indonesia mining toxins from Newmont Inc (tags)
Newmont mining corporation releases toxins into environment in Indonesia Nevada and other gold mines that use cyanide for leaching, resulting in increased cancer risks to residents..
colorado river basin/persian gulf- sisters (tags)
Imagine the repercussions if our US government, instead of threatening Saddam Hussein, promotes instead a pan-Gulf ecology hydrology development sceme, always using renewable energy technologies, based on practices being tested collaboratively withMexico in the Gulf of California.