The church, which owns a 4,000-acre cattle ranch in eastern Nevada's White Pine County and is a senior water rights holder in the Spring Valley, has through its attorneys asked the state engineer to delay awarding a project permit to the Southern Nevada Water Authority until an ongoing U.S. Geological Survey study of the region's groundwater resources is completed next year.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority, which supplies water to Las Vegas and Clark County, has proposed taking groundwater out of Spring Valley and surrounding areas - including the Snake Valley, which straddles the Nevada-Utah border - and pumping it to Las Vegas via a 200-mile pipeline network to meet that area's growing water needs.

Ranchers on both sides of the state line, and environmental groups, have dug in against the project, fearing it will dry up water tables and destroy the area's ecosystem and ranching industry. The Southern Nevada plan calls for taking 180,000 acre-feet of water annually out of eastern Nevada's aquifers, including 91,000 acre-feet from Spring Valley and 25,000 acre-feet from Snake Valley.

The church, which grazes 1,500 head of cattle on its Cleveland-Rogers Ranch, "does not object to the proposed development of water to the extent that the hydrological information available to the Office of State Engineer shows a reasonable likelihood that there is unappropriated water available for such a development," church attorney Bruce Findlay wrote in an Aug. 4 letter to Nevada engineer Tracy Taylor.

However, he added, the church is concerned about the potential impacts the water authority applications will have on senior water rights holders if the project's groundwater wells draw upon sources that already are appropriated. Several areas identified by the water authority for diversion are near water sources used by the Cleveland-Rogers Ranch.

"In consideration of all that is at stake," Findlay wrote, "our client requests the state engineer to withhold approval of the pending applications until the USGS completes its studies and submits a technical report showing that the water is available."

The Nevada engineer has scheduled a series of public hearings next month to assess the permit application. The water authority is seeking quick approval because of what it calls a critical water supply situation in Clark County - the fastest growing county in the nation. The water authority hopes to have the $2 billion project operating by 2015.

Cecil Garland, a Snake Valley rancher who lives in Callao, on the Utah side, said Thursday that the involvement of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is significant.

"There is a new player in the game," Garland said. "Not only does the church have the [moral] authority, it has the financial ability to stand up to whatever pressures might be exerted by the Southern Nevada Water Authority. This is a statement that says, 'If you're going to do this, it better be done right.' "

Water authority officials did not immediately return calls.

While the LDS Church is asking for a slowdown in the project's approval process, Utah and Nevada officials are moving ahead to finalize a water sharing agreement that would cover the large aquifer that sits under the state line in Snake Valley.

Utah officials said earlier this summer that they hoped to forge an agreement with Nevada by next month, acknowledging they were being pressured by the Southern Nevada Water Authority for a quick deal. Because the states share the resource, the water authority needs Utah's approval before the project can proceed.

But Jerry Olds, Utah's state engineer, said Thursday that there is no hard deadline. Negotiations are continuing.

It appears likely, however, that any Utah-Nevada deal will precede completion of the USGS study. Olds says elements of that report could possibly be incorporated into the agreement at a later date. But he was noncommittal, pending the outcome of negotiations.

"We'll use the best data available," Olds said.

jbaird@sltrib.com