Patty Henetz had a wonderful story in today's Salt Lake Tribune about Las Vegas water officials who want water from Utah's West Desert to help continue Sin City's growth. The Southern Nevada Water Authority said it could not meet a June 19 deadline to provide required documentation “due to significant and recurring delays in the BLM review process.”
With any kind of luck, this horrible project that would pump 176,000 acre-feet of water per year to Las Vegas from the Great Basin will be delayed forever.
You have to love SNWA spokesman J.C. Davis complaining because the BLM is seeking information in its Environmental Impact Statement covering an area beyond the five Great Basin valleys whose groundwater would be tapped for the pipeline.
Since the potential dust bowl this would create could adversely affect already horrible air quality problems along the Wasatch Front and draining water has the potential to negatively affect the Great Salt Lake and it's important bird and wildlife habitats, federal officials supervising the environmental impact statement better darn well look past just the places where the water is being pumped.
Think this isn't an outdoor recreation problem as well? Think again. This terrible scheme which we can only hope is eventually killed could effect the health of Great Basin National Park and Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge in the affected area with virtually unknown effects on special places such as the Great Salt Lake, the Bonneville Salt Flats and the wonderful basin and range environment in the West Desert.
Given the power of U.S. Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, we would all do well to watch for all sorts of shenanigans with regards to this project.
-- Tom Wharton