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WELC helps reign in massive Las Vegas groundwater pumping plan
WELC helps reign in massive Las Vegas groundwater pumping plan
On April 16, 2007, the Nevada State Engineer issued a long-awaited decision on how much water Las Vegas will get from a rural eastern Nevada groundwater basin that is the lynchpin of its plans to tap the region’s groundwater and pipe it over 200 miles to Las Vegas, in order to slake the ever-growing demand of urban sprawl and golf course-and-water-fountain development there.
On April 16, 2007, the Nevada State Engineer issued a long-awaited decision on how much water Las Vegas will get from a rural eastern Nevada groundwater basin that is the lynchpin of its plans to tap the region’s groundwater and pipe it over 200 miles to Las Vegas, in order to slake the ever-growing demand of urban sprawl and golf course-and-water-fountain development there.
Las Vegas had sought over 90,000 acre-feet per year (afy) from Spring Valley, located between Ely and Baker in White Pine County Nevada, but based on the issues raised by WELC on behalf of a coalition of rural residents and conservation groups, the State Engineer approved only 40,000 afy, and even that amount can not be pumped for five years, until after a comprehensive mitigation and monitoring program has been accepted by the State. Only if Las Vegas pumps that amount for 10 years and can forecast no adverse impacts would it be allowed to pump an additional 20,000 afy.
WELC is representing White Pine County, the Toiyabe Chapter of the Sierra Club, as well as local ranchers and residents in the protest. WELC presented its evidence in a two-week hearing in September, showing that permitting the withdrawal of 90,000 afy would dry up Spring Valley in a manner similar to Los Angles’ destruction of the Owens Valley, causing untold damage to the native flora and fauna of the area, the local economy that relies on this intact valley for ranching, tourism and wildlife protection, and would cause local water rights to be usurped.
WELC will continue this fight as Las Vegas turns its attention to other valleys it deems important to its pipeline plan- stay tuned!
Read the decision...
Learn more about our case...
Read about our case in the news...
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"Without the Western Environmental Law Center’s
help and expertise, we would not have been able to do what we did."
Helen Reddout, Co-Founder and President, Community Association for Restoration of the
Environment
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Big Dairy’s relentless push for ever-greater production and consolidation has become a public health, environmental, and social disaster. Industrial dairies– which can house many thousands of animals under one roof – are responsible for a litany of significant problems, including (but not limited to):
- Surface/ground water and air pollution;
- Excessive water usage, especially in arid areas;
- Inadequate-to-nonexistent waste management;
- Soil degradation;
- Antibiotic abuse and the spread of antibiotic resistance;
- Diminished food safety and increased difficulty identifying the true source of food contamination;
- Poor community and worker health;
- Unethical labor practices;
- Adverse economic and social impacts—vanishing family farms and farmland; increasing rural poverty rates; a rapid decline in local living conditions and general quality of life; and
- Inhumane treatment of animals.
The extent to which the Big Dairy Industry has been allowed to wreak such havoc is in no small part due to the silent consent of those in power-- in the form of lack of governmental oversight. In states where these Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) have established a strong presence, the existing regulatory environment is, in many cases, similar to that of third-world countries.
Individuals and organizations have been working diligently to protect and educate the public about the true impacts of these animal production facilities. Until now they have been largely unaware of each other and struggling. The formation of the Dairy Education Alliance (DEA) marks the end of those isolated fights: dozens of grassroots organizations, individual activists, and concerned environmental legal experts have joined forces in order to consolidate our individual efforts and compel change on a national scale.
The DEA is dedicated to putting a stop to the destructive force of Industrial Dairy. We have a presence in all Big Dairy states, and other states, including California, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Wisconsin, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, Oklahoma and Nebraska.
View the press packet (pdf).
Read John Kerry's letter of support.
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