A significantly amended AB 30 was passed out of the Assembly Natural Resources Committee yesterday. The Reno Gazette Journal article on the hearing appears below. The Central Nevada Regional Water Authority joined Eureka County, the Great Basin Water Network and Center for Biological Diversity in testifying neutral on the amended bill. The amendment was drafted by GBWN and finalized and negotiated with input from a number of stakeholders. While not perfect, AB 30 as amended eliminated problematic language while providing some clarity that the State Engineer can only approve 3M plans to “avoid” conflicts and not to “eliminate” conflicts. The bill will next go to the full Assembly for a vote.
Lawmakers changed Nevada water bill to allay threat of pipeline to Las Vegas
Benjamin Spillman, Reno Gazette Journal Published 10:06 p.m. PT April 10, 2019
Language that could have made it easier to clear the way to pipe water from rural Nevada to Las Vegas is no longer included in a pending state water bill.
Lawmakers on Wednesday moved an amended version of the bill following pressure from conservationists, American Indian tribes and rural communities who oppose siphoning water from remote Nevada valleys to the state’s largest city.
Although the bill still requires approval from both the Assembly and Senate to become law, opponents say the watered-down version assuages their concerns about the pipeline.
“This bill does not authorize the Las Vegas pipeline,” said Patrick Donnelly, Nevada director of the Center for Biological Diversity.
Donnelly was among representatives of several conservation groups who changed their official stance on Assembly Bill 30 from opposition to neutral.
“This is a win for the environment because sometimes you win by not losing,” Donnelly said before the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources, Agriculture and Mining voted on the amended version of the bill.
The committee split on party lines, approving the bill by a 7-4 vote.
“The changes made the bill better, but they did not make the bill good enough,” said Assemblyman Jim Wheeler, R-Gardnerville.
The bill, sponsored by the Division of Water Resources, seeks to provide Nevada’s state engineer, the state’s top water official, more options when it comes to settling disputes over water rights.
AB30 would enhance the state engineer’s authority to resolve conflicts over water rights through monitoring, management and mitigation agreements, also known as “3M plans.”
A Feb. 27 hearing on AB30 and another water bill, AB51, which died in committee, attracted a standing-room-only crowd, most of whom were in opposition.
Farmers, conservationists and American Indians from Nevada and Utah turned out in opposition to the proposals in two bills while no one spoke in support of measures critics say would direct more water toward urban and suburban development at the expense of farming, ranching and the environment in rural valleys.
“I’m sure everyone remembers the initial hearing on this bill it was not looking very favorable for finding a path forward,” said Brad Crowell, director of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, which oversees the division that sponsored the bill.
In the ensuing weeks, opponents worked with state officials to make changes that allayed fears the bill would help cities sap water resources from rural communities.
“That is why we are not here with pitchforks and torches,” said Kyle Roerink, director of the Great Basin Water Network, which works to protect water resources for rural communities.
Specifically, the amended bill struck the provision that the state engineer could use 3M plans to “eliminate” conflicts over water rights applications. The revised version says 3M plans can be used to avoid conflicts.
“That sounds like a semantic difference, but the implications are actually huge,” Donnelly said.
He said under the original language the state engineer could have declared a 3M plan that called on trucking or piping water to refresh a depleted spring works to “eliminate” conflict over a water rights application.
By using the term “avoid,” instead, Donnelly said the state engineer is required to direct water rights applicants to resolve conflicts in advance by working with existing water rights holders or reducing the scope of the application.
Assemblywoman Heidi Swank, D-Las Vegas, who is chairperson of the committee, complimented the sponsors for working with the opponents to modify the bill.
“This is how it is supposed to work,” Swank said. “It is not always we are going to come together and have a nice moment like this but when we do, we should all remember it.”
