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Opposed to a proposed agreement to pump Snake Valley water to Las Vegas and dissatisfied with the way public officials are handling the matter, Millard County, the Utah Association of Counties and the advocacy group Great Basin Water Network have organized two citizens hearings for next week.

The hearings will allow people to give their opinions on the deal. Mike Styler, executive director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources, and Allen Biaggi, director of the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, have said they expect to sign the agreement by mid-October or earlier.

The proposal Styler and Biaggi have presented would hold off the Nevada state engineer's ruling on the Southern Nevada Water Authority's 20-year-old application for water rights in Snake Valley. The authority is seeking to tap a west desert aquifer -- which lies mostly in Utah -- to pipe billions of gallons of water nearly 300 miles to Las Vegas.

During a quick series of four public airings of the proposal in Utah and Nevada last month, the two officials said the proposed accord -- which aims to divide an estimated 132,000 acre-feet of water down the middle -- is best for both states because it requires hydrologic and environmental studies before it could take effect in 2019.

But neither official would promise that opposition would have any effect on the proposal, which critics say would give most of the unallocated water to Las Vegas at Utah's

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expense.

That's why the citizens hearings have been arranged in Salt Lake and Millard counties, said Great Basin Water Network spokesman Steve Erickson, who expects large crowds at both.

Comments will be recorded -- and possibly transcribed -- and then forwarded to Gov. Gary Herbert, who, with Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons, would have to give their permission before Styler and Biaggi could sign the proposal.

The Millard County Commission, led by Commissioner Kathy Walker, said in its meeting notice that comments would be collected and sent to Herbert's office.

Characterizing the citizens' hearings as "honest," Erickson said he expects Salt Lake County Mayor Corroon to speak.

"In the state-sponsored meetings, people were only allowed to ask questions," Erickson said. "I really don't want this to be like their meetings, where they dominated everything. We're going to accept oral comments and get them to the governor one way or the other."

Snake Valley citizens hearings

Delta » Tuesday, 7 p.m., Millard County Fair Building, 187 S. Manzanita Ave.

Salt Lake City » Wednesday, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., Salt Lake County Government Center, 2001 S. State St., North Building, Room 2003.

A copy of the draft Snake Valley Water Agreement can be found at www.waterrights.utah.gov/