Davis said it's "fair" to look at the impact that pumping water will have, so long as all other existing threats are considered along with the complex geological nuances that affect what happens to groundwater supplies as a whole when pumping begins. Users on the Utah side also impact the Snake Valley groundwater supplies, he said.

If the least chub is federally listed, he added, it will become part of his agency's environmental-compliance process.

In September 1995, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing the least chub as "endangered with critical habitat." But that same year, Congress put a moratorium on federally listing species as endangered or threatened.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and six other federal, state and American Indian agencies then came up with the "Least Chub Conservation Agreement and Strategy," which was revised in 2005. The agreement's goal is for long-term survival of the least chub in its historic habitat and to implement conservation efforts toward that goal.

Fish and Wildlife Service officials say the fish's habitat already faces several threats, including competition with the mosquitofish; livestock grazing; mining, oil and gas exploration; pollution from urban and suburban development; and diverting or withdrawing water supplies from the habitat area.

---

E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com