… to defend rural communities and ecosystems from AB298, a dangerous water bill that aims to clear the way for the Las Vegas Water Grab. Read the urgent alert from Great Basin Water Network below to find out what you can do to stop this bill from becoming law.
AB 298 cleared the Nevada Assembly and will be heard TUESDAY in the Senate Natural Resources Committee. We’ll say it again – this is a bad bill that undermines legal protections for senior water rights, existing domestic wells, wildlife, and the environment. There have been negotiations and changes to the bill for months, but Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) won’t fix it.
It’s time to nix it – with your help!
Despite a new amendment, AB 298 creates dangerous contradictions and potential loopholes in Nevada water law, including due process and governmental takings issues. It could open up the state to groundwater mining and environmental disaster on a massive scale. And it’s totally unnecessary.
Let’s face it – why would Southern Nevada Water Authority and the major business interests of Las Vegas work on a bill that doesn’t affect their current water sources, if not to grease the wheels for transfers of rural water to urban areas?
We need you to call and email your Senator and the members of the Natural Resources Committee and urge them to vote NO on AB 298.
Here are some points you can reference in your calls and emails:
- The bill defines terms like perennial yield in ways that could lead to overdrawing groundwater and devastating the environment.
- These determinations should be made by experts and scientists, not set in stone by the Legislature and SNWA.
- The bill fails to require specific thresholds and triggers for mitigation to be developed up-front. By the time impacts show up it will be too late to undo the damage.
- The bill applies all of these changes retroactively, creating new interpretations of and potential problems with any current or pending decisions of the Nevada State Engineer.
Contact the Nevada Senate (please be polite and courteous) and ask them to oppose AB 298. Find your legislator here, but also contact the members of the Senate Natural Resources Committee:
Chair – Yvanna.Cancela@sen.state.nv.us 775-684-1427
Vice Chair – Mark.Manendo@sen.state.nv.us 775-684-6503
Julia.Ratti@sen.state.nv.us 775-684-1433
Pete.Goicoechea@sen.state.nv.us 775-684-1447
James.Settelmeyer@sen.state.nv.us 775-684-1470
Thank you in advance for taking action to protect the water resources of the Great Basin!