An agreement that would allocate water in the Snake Valley aquifer equally between Utah and Nevada doesn't make sense because it assumes an excess of water in the West Desert, residents and experts from both states said Wednesday night.

During a "citizens meeting" organized by the Utah Association of Counties and the Great Basin Water Network, opponents of the proposed agreement between the two states and the Las Vegas public water utility questioned why details of the four-year negotiations remain secret, given the potential harm to residents and the environment.

"We don't have any surplus water in Snake Valley. For goodness' sake, we're the epicenter of the drought," said Cecil Garland, who has ranched the West Desert near Callao for 36 years.

Unveiled during four public hearings in Utah and Nevada last month, the proposal is drawing fire from ranchers, conservationists and elected officials from both states.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority wants to build a 300-mile pipeline that would siphon 50,000 to 60,000 acre-feet from the valley to support current and anticipated growth in Las Vegas. An acre-foot supplies up to two households for a year.

During the state-sponsored hearings, attendees were allowed to ask a few questions but couldn't offer comment -- and no one was recording or taking notes on the meetings.

That's why the counties and the water network organized hearings Tuesday and Wednesday nights: To record

public comment to forward to Gov. Gary Herbert, state lawmakers and other elected leaders.

Garland said Snake Valley soils would blow away if the water-table were to drop more than 100 feet, which scientists with the Utah Geological Survey have said would be likely with the pumping.

Dust storms out of Nevada, said Brian Moench, president of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, would carry millions of tons of toxic substances, including mercury, an asbestoslike substance called erionite, radioactive particles left from 900 nuclear tests conducted in Nevada and fungus spores that cause valley fever, a potentially lethal infection spreading across the desert Southwest.