Herbert's assurances fail to ease Snake Valley fears

Gov. Gary Herbert said Friday that even though Nevada water officials may expect a signed Snake Valley aquifer agreement on their desk by November, it won't happen until he's satisfied the plan protects Utah residents.

"I'm ready to fight right along with you," Herbert told a crowd of ranch-worn residents at the Border Inn east of Baker on the Nevada/Utah border.

Despite his assurances, residents who eke out a living on the isolated flat lands of Snake Valley seemed little comforted. They're anxious over a pending water-sharing agreement that they fear will turn their livelihoods to dust.

Four years in the making, a draft agreement penned by negotiators from Nevada and Utah proposes to split the water in the Snake Valley aquifer that straddles the border of the two states.

Herbert attended the inaugural meeting of the Snake Valley Research Advisory Council in the quaint dining area of a business that has motel rooms on the Utah side and a casino on the Nevada side.

"I understand this an emotional issue for you," he told a crowd of about 50 people. "If we have an agreement, it has to be the correct agreement. We want to make sure Utah water is protected, not only that the water is protected but that the environment is protected at the same time. The degradation of the environment is the utmost concern to us."

Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon, a member of the council, participated via teleconference and reiterated his concern that pumping the aquifer to provide more water to southern Nevada would dry up the vegetation, erode the soil and create dust storms that would cause increased air quality problems for Utahns.

"I am concerned because this agreement does not adequately address air quality, (and) it does not provide for enough monitoring," Corroon said.

Members of the advisory council include representatives from the Millard County Commission, Corroon, the Goshute Tribe and Snake Valley residents.

Rupert Steele, chairman of the Confederated Tribes of Goshute Reservations and a member of the newly formed council, made plain that he did not like the agreement.

"I see this dollar floating into Las Vegas, and how is this dollar going to come back? It is a one-way street. That is what bothers me," Steele said.

The consternation is born from plans by the Southern Nevada Water Authority to tap the aquifer and construct a 285-mile pipeline to convey water to Las Vegas households.

While most of Snake Valley is in Utah, more of the water in the aquifer comes from Nevada mountain snowfall and precipitation.

The water authority, which only uses a small percentage of that water, wants to tap into the aquifer and says it is a shared resource.