'No rush' on Snake Valley

Gov. Gary Herbert said there is no rush to sign an agreement with Nevada over sharing water in the Snake Valley aquifer, but stressed he didn't believe it prudent to suspend ongoing negotiations.

Herbert met Monday with the Snake Valley Aquifer Advisory Council after members last week said they wanted negotiations between the two states shelved in light of a recent Nevada ruling.

A district judge called the state water engineer's decision granting water rights to the Southern Nevada Water Authority in neighboring basins "arbitrary" and "capricious" and reversed the engineer's action.

The water authority has said it will appeal, but given the uncertainty invoked by the decision, critics of the water-sharing agreement said it would be best to wait until the judicial dispute is settled.

But Herbert warned that his visit to Washington, D.C., last week gave him the "distinct impression" from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., that Nevada officials are banking on the decision being overturned.

Such a move, coupled with Utah dragging its heels, could mean the need for any agreement is moot.

"This is my personal opinion, but I think if we wait until there is a (judicial) resolution, I don't think there will be a state-to-state agreement," said Utah Department of Natural Resources executive director Mike Styler. "The need for it will have been removed from federal law."

Negotiated and still in draft form, the agreement proposes to split the water in the aquifer in Snake Valley, which straddles the border of both states.

Congressional language in a land bill mandates such an agreement be reached between the two states prior to any interbasin transfer of water in the valley.

Inserted at the request of Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, after Styler and a coalition of worried ranchers and farmers asked him to intervene, the hint has been that the water transfer agreement provision can just as easily be deleted and Nevada won't have to negotiate with Utah at all.

The need for the agreement has reached a heightened level of interest on the part of Nevada given the water authority's plans to construct a $3.5 billion pipeline that would convey water 285 miles to Las Vegas.

Styler has repeatedly said the agreement does not authorize the pipeline or any pumping, but is meant as a way to keep Utah at the negotiating table to ensure certain protections.

"It is better to be talking beforehand than in court afterward," he said during Monday's meeting.

Although the state engineer was scheduled to hold hearings on the authority's water rights application in Snake Valley two years from now, the proposed agreement puts those hearings off until 2019, something the majority of council members agree gives science a chance to assess the effects of pumping the aquifer.

"There is no rush here to sign an agreement that I can see," Herbert said. "We should be in the go-slow mode and move methodically ahead in negotiations."

Herbert said such an agreement must include three key components: the assurance of Utah water rights' supremacy, the protection of the Snake Valley environment, and an equitable division of water resources.

After his participation in the meeting, Herbert said he believed the agreement under revision is maybe "80 (percent) to 85 percent there."

e-mail: amyjoi@desnews.com