Snake Valley ranchers riled by 'sellout' water deal

Delta » West desert ranchers gave Utah and Nevada water officials a verbal lashing Monday night over a proposed deal that they fear sells out their little towns to help quench a city 300 miles away.

Utah Department of Natural Resources Director Mike Styler and his Nevada counterpart, Allen Biaggi, faced a group of about 100 angry farmers and local officials at the Millard County Fairground as they presented a plan that would split groundwater from the Snake Valley, which straddles the Utah-Nevada line. They argued that the deal they have negotiated and hope their governors will sign protects existing water users, though it also makes possible a 285-mile pipeline feeding most of the rest to Las Vegas.

Ranchers who use the water say there's none to spare, and once a thirsty, growing metropolitan area grabs a share, they're sunk. They fear they will be out-lawyered.

"Does anyone think Southern Nevada [Water Authority] is going to build a $15 billion pipeline and then let somebody turn it off?" asked Callao rancher Cecil Garland. He disputed Styler's assertion that it's better to reach the best possible deal than to risk the consequences by challenging Nevada before the U.S. Supreme Court.

"To hell with that," Garland said. "Let's fight for it."

Yet the officials pitching the interstate agreement here Monday said turning off the Las Vegas spigot is exactly what the deal allows. It requires the states

to monitor the water table and ensure that what flows out each year doesn't exceed the recharge that comes off the surrounding mountains. If it does, they are required to protect the oldest water rights first -- and the Las Vegas right dates only to its original application in 1989.

The agreement also requires the states to set baseline environmental triggers -- accounting for dust, vegetation and wildlife -- that would require action if degradation occurs, according to a panel of officials from the two states.

If signed, the agreement also requires Nevada to hold off on reviewing Southern Nevada Water Authority's application until 2019. That time will allow for studies to better understand how much water is available, Styler said.

For now, the deal assumes there's 132,000 acre-feet of water available each year, and divides it between existing and future uses. The 55,000 acre-feet that Utahns already use would stay in Utah, Styler said, and 12,000 acre-feet would be protected for current Nevada users. Nevada then would get the biggest cut of near-term future allocations: 36,000 acre-feet compared to 6,000 for Utah. Assuming there's any left, Nevada would get 18,000 acre-feet and Utah 6,000 acre-feet from a pool for allocations that either state could veto.

Styler said he wishes he could get more for Utah, but his first goal was to protect existing users and allow some extra for local population growth.

"My personal goal was to protect the people who are using water in Snake Valley," he said. "My goal wasn't to stop the pipeline. "I wanted to keep Utah water in Utah."

Biaggi added that while most of the Snake Valley farming that historically sprung up to take water happened on the flatter sections in Utah, the mountains that recharge the aquifer are mostly in Nevada.

The ranchers assembled Monday simply didn't believe that using more water than they already take can be sustainable.

Garland said local pumping, including his own, already has dried up springs. He remembered a marsh and a popular swimming hole that flowed in Callao in the 1970s. It's gone now. "It hasn't got enough water to float a duck," he said.

"There is no surface water in Snake Valley. We're over-drawing it right now," Garland said.

Millard County mineral prospector Steve Martin confronted Styler over his support of a deal that locals believe favors Las Vegas. Styler is a former Millard County commissioner and signed the county's objection to Las Vegas' application in 1989.

"Why are you agreeing to this garbage?" Martin said. "These people out here are good people -- good Americans -- and you're screwing them."

Millard County Commissioner Kathy Walker said her board will conduct its own public hearing within two weeks, and will submit comments to the state opposing the agreement.

The states will conduct another public meeting this morning in Salt Lake City, where county officials fear drying out the Snake Valley could send dust storms toward the Wasatch Front. The 10 a.m. meeting is at Department of Environmental Quality Building 2, 168 N. 1950 West.