The Upcoming Special Session Is Not The Place To Deal With Water Bill
By: Doug Busselman, Executive Vice President
Although the short-term concerns of the recent Nevada Supreme Court decision on invalidating water right approvals for the Southern Nevada Water Authority may tempt a rush to do a legislative fix -- it would be more appropriate to see a lot more of the situation emerge before taking action. There is a likelihood that more water rights have been affected by the Supreme Court ruling regarding Water Engineer decisions that took more time than the law allows, but correcting one problem could also cause much bigger problems for a lot more people if an imprudent “solution” is adopted by a rushed legislative body. This is why dealing with the matter in the upcoming special session of the Nevada Legislature would not be appropriate.
Nevada’s water law has a great deal of inter-related and inter-dependent components and actions taken to tweak one will cause a ripple that sets off a chain reaction throughout a critical system. The Supreme Court decision definitely is a ripple-causing event. Trying to legislate around that, without a full evaluation of all of the nuances over what might be in play, runs the serious risk of making things worse.
Not having the detailed language of what might be offered for consideration, only makes the speculation of the possible negative consequences worse. The probable operations process of a special session (the Assembly and Senate meeting as a Committee of the Whole) is another reason for concern since the outcome of the process is actually a probably a pre-determined and already agreed upon conclusion.
This matter requires serious study and evaluation with a full-range of alternatives and potential consequences completely vetted with full opportunity for public interaction and input by all who could be impacted. A solution which could result in more problems should not be a decision to rush forward in making.
Although the short-term concerns of the recent Nevada Supreme Court decision on invalidating water right approvals for the Southern Nevada Water Authority may tempt a rush to do a legislative fix -- it would be more appropriate to see a lot more of the situation emerge before taking action. There is a likelihood that more water rights have been affected by the Supreme Court ruling regarding Water Engineer decisions that took more time than the law allows, but correcting one problem could also cause much bigger problems for a lot more people if an imprudent “solution” is adopted by a rushed legislative body. This is why dealing with the matter in the upcoming special session of the Nevada Legislature would not be appropriate.
Nevada’s water law has a great deal of inter-related and inter-dependent components and actions taken to tweak one will cause a ripple that sets off a chain reaction throughout a critical system. The Supreme Court decision definitely is a ripple-causing event. Trying to legislate around that, without a full evaluation of all of the nuances over what might be in play, runs the serious risk of making things worse.
Not having the detailed language of what might be offered for consideration, only makes the speculation of the possible negative consequences worse. The probable operations process of a special session (the Assembly and Senate meeting as a Committee of the Whole) is another reason for concern since the outcome of the process is actually a probably a pre-determined and already agreed upon conclusion.
This matter requires serious study and evaluation with a full-range of alternatives and potential consequences completely vetted with full opportunity for public interaction and input by all who could be impacted. A solution which could result in more problems should not be a decision to rush forward in making.
Posted by Doug Busselman at 2/12/2010 5:42 AM 
Categories: Water
Tags: Nevada Supreme Court Water Ruling Southern Nevada Water Authority Special Legislative Session Nevada
Categories: Water
Tags: Nevada Supreme Court Water Ruling Southern Nevada Water Authority Special Legislative Session Nevada
You are right. This a situation that demands that we take the time it takes to get it right. It looks like Pat Malroy is in a blind liniar panic and is trying to stampede the legislature into a political fix.
To me, the Supreme court ruling was a matter of justice. SNWA ran rough shod over the interests of the protestants. The 17 year delay in hearing the applications meant that many protestants had died or moved. People who moved in or came of age after the original protest period whose interests might have been represented by the protests of local governments or state and federal agencies were denied representation in the hearing process because of the political wheeling and dealing by SNWA.
I have never been able to understand why SNWA has spent billions of dollars persuing a finite water resource (carbonate aquifer if you pump it long enough it is going to dry up). When that same money could be applied to desalination plant on the Pacific ocean and unlimited water resource.
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