Lake Mead is currently only at 36% capacity. (Photo: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation)

Policy, politics and progressive commentary

Federal resource managers announced $99 million in funding for a large-scale water recycling project that will save enough water in Lake Mead to serve nearly 500,000 households in Southern California and Southern Nevada annually.

The Department of the Interior announced Tuesday that the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California will receive millions in funding for the planning and design of the state’s Pure Water Southern California facility, a planned regional large-scale water recycling project.

When completed, the Pure Water project will produce 150 million gallons of purified water every day, enough to meet the demands of 470,000 households in Southern California and Southern Nevada annually. That water would be piped for industrial use and to replenish groundwater basins, which provide well water.

Construction could begin as soon as 2026 and the first water could be delivered in 2032, according to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

The project is a partnership between the Southern Nevada Water Authority and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California to create reliable and resilient water supplies for Southern California and Nevada, reduce demand on the Colorado River, and keep water in Lake Mead.

In 2021, the Southern Nevada Water Authority agreed to invest $750 million into the water recycling project. In return for the investment, Southern Nevada will get a share of California’s water in Lake Mead. The Southern Nevada Water Authority also agreed to invest $6 million for environmental planning of the project.

“Water is essential to everything we do,” said Secretary Deb Haaland in a statement Tuesday. “As the climate crisis drives severe drought conditions across the West, it will take all of us working together to safeguard our communities and enhance water reliability.”

Southern Nevada water users consume 89 gallons per person per day. Projected growth for the region can only remain sustainable if water use is cut to 86 gallons per person per day by 2035, according to the Southern Nevada Water Authority. State water managers have said water recycling will play a major role in reaching those sustainability projections.

Lake Mead is currently only at 36% capacity due to decades of drought in the west and the Upper Colorado Basin, a major water source for the Colorado River and the reservoir. 

Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton made the announcement during a visit to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California Tuesday, where she announced a total of $179 million in funding for water recycling and drought resilience projects for four projects in California and Utah.

Over the next five years, the Bureau of Reclamation will invest $8.3 billion for water infrastructure projects in western states, including water storage, conservation, water purification, and water recycling. Since the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was signed in November 2021, Reclamation has announced more than $3.5 billion for more than 530 projects. 

“These historic investments will add a significant tool to our toolbox to bolster drought resilience in communities across the country,” said Touton in a statement.

U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto praised the funding Tuesday. Cortez Masto pushed for securing funding for the Department of the Interior’s large-scale water recycling program as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

“Addressing drought in the West and protecting Nevada’s water supply will require all of us to work together on innovative, sustainable solutions,” said Cortez Masto in a statement.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated Southern Nevada water users consume 110 gallons per person per day. It’s been corrected to 89 gallons per person per day.

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(Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

Policy, politics and progressive commentary

Parents in Nevada will have to wait until September to receive benefits from a popular free food program designed to cover kids during summer vacation.

Earlier this year, Nevada signed up for the first new federally funded nutrition program in decades, which established a permanent summer nutrition assistance program for children out of school for the summer.

The new federal nutrition program, known as Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (SEBT), will provide families with $40 in food benefits per eligible child, per month, for the three month summer period. 

But those summer benefits won’t make it to Nevada households until September, according to the Nevada Division of Welfare and Supportive Services, which runs the program.

State health officials said the program was delayed until September, because the agency has not yet secured the state funding needed to run the program. However, the Nevada Division of Welfare and Supportive Services said they are confident the $6 million needed to cover the program’s administrative costs will be approved by lawmakers during the Interim Finance Committee in June. 

“We just need to get our funding approved first,” said Kristle Muessle, a public information officer for the Nevada Division of Welfare and Support Services. “Once we have that, we’ll be able to get the system updates going, and get those contracts going.”

Although the program is largely funded by the federal government, states need to pay half the cost of administering the program.

Payments will be distributed in one lump sum to eligible households with children from Pre-K through the 12th grade. State health officials estimate that 350,000 children in Nevada will be eligible for the summer food benefits program.

The first round of summer benefits starting in September will automatically be distributed to children living in households already participating in other income-based federal assistance programs, like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), or Nevada Medicaid.

Households with children identified by the Nevada Department of Education (NDE) as eligible for the free and reduced lunch program will also automatically receive benefits in the first round of payments in September.

Those benefits will be deposited on existing SNAP or TANF cards as part of a household’s monthly benefits. State officials noted that not all children will receive their benefits at the same time.

For families who do not receive SNAP or TANF benefits, pre-loaded SEBT cards will be sent by mail starting in mid-September. SEBT cards will be mailed to the last known address the parent or guardian provided when enrolling their child in school. 

Parents who have recently moved will need to contact the school their child is currently enrolled in, prior to June 10, 2024, and provide them with a current address or mailing address to ensure they receive the summer food benefits when they are finally available in September, warned the Nevada Division of Welfare and Supportive Services.

Children in households that are not already participating in other income-based federal assistance programs will receive their summer benefits at a later date. However, that later date has not been determined yet, according to the Nevada Division of Welfare and Supportive Services.

Nevada also has several nutrition food programs for families who need assistance over the summer.  The Clark County School District (CCSD) announced it will serve breakfast and lunch meals to all students through the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) at several locations throughout southern Nevada. A list of locations can be found here.

Summer meals served by CCSD schools will be available from May 21 to June 14, before returning from June 17 to July 17. Due to the terms of the CCSD Summer Food Service Program, all meals provided by CCSD must be consumed on-site. 

The Food Bank of Northern Nevada’s also offers free breakfast and lunch meals  to children 2-18 years old throughout summer break. A list of locations can be found here. 

The Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (SEBT) is a much needed boost for states that have seen food insecurity rise in recent years. 

Earlier this month, data released by Three Square Food Bank revealed that food insecurity in Clark, Nye, Esmerelda and Lincoln counties rose from 12% in 2022 to 14.7% in 2023. An estimated 14.6% of Clark County residents were food insecure, up from 12% the previous year. 

The highest rates are among Esmeralda and Nye counties, at 18.4% and 17.3% respectively. Both counties had a 13.9% rate the previous year.

The report also found that rates among children spiked from 17.8% in 2023 to 22%. Roughly one in five children, about 115,000 children, live in food-insecure households.

While Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo vetoed a bill in 2023 that would have provided universal free lunch for K-12 students, the SEBT program will provide much needed additional funding for childhood nutrition programs.

Last month, Democratic lawmakers also criticized Lombardo for pressuring the legislature to fund the states administrative costs related to the SEBT program from an emergency contingency account, rather than reallocating unspent American Rescue Plan Act money.

Using the emergency contingency fund for the EBT programs’ $6 million administrative needs would leave the fund with an $11 million balance–considered too low by lawmakers.

During the legislative session, $9 million in ARPA funding was set aside for the universal free lunch program, which was ultimately left unspent after Lombardo vetoed the free school lunch bill. 

Lawmakers said they intended to use part of the $9 million in unspent ARPA funds to cover the $6 million needed for administrative costs related to the SEBT program.

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A sign is shown at North Las Vegas City Hall is Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2022, in North Las Vegas. (Ronda Churchill/Nevada Current)

Policy, politics and progressive commentary

Home to more than 275,000 residents, the City of North Las Vegas is the state’s fourth most populous incorporated city – behind Las Vegas, Henderson, and Reno.

The nonpartisan North Las Vegas City Council includes the mayor and four members, who each represent a ward. This year, seats for two of the wards are up for reelection, but only one will appear on the June primary ballot.

In Ward 2, Councilwoman Ruth Garcia-Anderson is seeking her first full term. The incumbent faces two competitors: small business owner Robert “Twixx” Taylor and Air Force veteran Billy Lamont Riley.

If any candidate receives more than 50% of the votes during the primary, they will win the seat outright. If nobody reaches a majority, the top two vote getters move forward and appear on the November general election ballot.

Garcia-Anderson was appointed to her seat by the North Las Vegas City Council in December 2022 after then-Councilwoman Pamela Goynes-Brown was elected mayor. 

Ward 2 runs roughly from Rancho Drive to Interstate 15, and from Lake Mead Boulevard to Centennial Parkway.

Garcia-Anderson is endorsed by Goynes-Brown, and her fellow council members, Isaac Barron, Scott Black, and Richard Cherchio. She is also endorsed by the North Las Vegas Police Officers Association, the Vegas Chamber of Commerce, Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Local 13, and Sheet Metal Workers Local 88.

Her campaign raised more than $23,000 in campaign contributions during the first quarter reporting period. Station Casinos was her biggest campaign donor, donating $10,000.

Since her appointment, Garcia-Anderson has served as the vice chair of the North Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency, and as a member of the North Las Vegas Deferred Compensation Plan Committee.

The mother of four earned a Bachelor of Arts in International Business with a minor in Marketing, as well as a Bachelor of Liberal Arts in Spanish from the University of Nevada, Reno.

Before being appointed to city council, Garcia-Anderson spent more than a decade in North Las Vegas as a stay at home mom. Prior to that, she worked as a Spanish language interpreter for courts in Washoe County. 

Garcia-Anderson is the first Latina to serve on the city council. She highlighted her skill as a bilingual speaker as a selling point for her reelection.

“I think that is an important skill to recognize, because I’m able to communicate with the vast majority of the residents living in the City of North Las Vegas,” Garcia-Anderson said.

North Las Vegas is Nevada’s largest minority-majority city: 42% of residents identify as white, while 42% identify as Hispanic or Latino, 22% as Black, and 6.7% as Asian.

While campaigning in Ward 2, Garcia-Anderson said she found that resident’s top priorities were public safety, the rehabilitation of neighborhoods, and education.

Robert “Twixx” Taylor, owner of Fade ‘Em All barber shops, said his campaign is focused on personally connecting to residents of Ward 2 through door-to-door engagement.

“I literally knock on doors personally, myself, every day,” said Taylor.

Taylor previously served on the City of North Las Vegas Civil Service Board of Trustees, the Las Vegas Metro Multicultural Advisory Council, and the Urban Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. Taylor also ran for mayor in 2022 but did not make it to the general election.

Taylor has been endorsed by various progressive groups, including the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada (PLAN) Action Fund and Make the Road Action Nevada, the organization’s campaign arm. Taylor was also endorsed by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters Local 1977.

His campaign reported nearly $17,000 in campaign contributions during the first quarter of 2024. His largest single contribution was $2,500 from Rosalind Cotton, the executive director of the Children’s Center in Chicago.

Taylor described himself as extremely self motivated, recounting how he opened his first barber shop at 23 before developing a chain of shops in North Las Vegas. He also runs a professional event promotions company called Two: Ent. His experience as a small business owner is what led him to getting involved in politics, he said.

“I got hindered a few times by the local government,” Taylor said. 

He recounted a time when the main road to his barber shop was shut down for repair for nearly three months, costing him business and employees.

“I saw how they started putting all this money into that new North Las Vegas downtown situation. But for some reason, they weren’t doing anything to the property where my barber shop was,” Taylor said. “One of the big reasons I’m running is that I’m a business owner, and I feel like North Las Vegas can do better supporting small business owners.”

Taylor said he’s employed hundreds of North Las Vegas residents over the years. He believes his experience with problem-solving, networking, and leadership would serve Ward 2 effectively.

“I’m the only candidate who’s a business owner and who hires people in North Las Vegas. And I’m the only candidate who has a 20-year-plus background of doing community work in our community. I am the clear choice,” Taylor said. “Both of the other candidates have been appointed by the city. I want to be appointed by the people, the citizens, and with their vote I’ll be appointed to work for them.”

While campaigning in Ward 2, Taylor said some of the most common concerns from residents were public safety, road maintenance, and education. 

“In one specific neighborhood, the neighbors took it upon themselves and put their own speed bumps and their own cones. And they have their own signs warning about children and they say they all agree to it,” Taylor said. “If I become the councilman, I want to make sure that becomes a real thing versus the community using their own money. I don’t think they should have to do that.”

Billy Lamont Riley, a U.S. Air Force veteran, is also a contender in the race to represent Ward 2. Riley’s campaign reported $700 in campaign contributions during the first quarter of 2024.

Riley was appointed to the North Las Vegas Planning Commission in 2021, a role he is still serving. Riley earned a bachelor’s and graduate degree from Bellevue University in 2002 and an associate degree from Metropolitan Community College in 2012.

He has been endorsed by Teamsters Local 14, Teamsters Local 631, and Teamsters Local 986. He was also endorsed by the American Federation of Government Employees. 

Riley did not respond to Current’s requests for an interview. 

On his campaign Facebook page, Riley said the city has been plagued by illegal dumping on vacant lots near neighborhoods, an issue he plans to address if elected. He listed affordable housing, public safety, education, economic development, infrastructure, and the environment as top priorities on a Ballotpedia’s candidate survey.

Both Garcia-Anderson and Taylor are in support of a pair of ballot initiatives set to appear on the city’s June primary ballot that would extend two existing property taxes used to fund public safety, street maintenance and public parks. 

The street improvement tax collects 24 cents per $100 in property value and is set to expire in June 2025, while the public safety tax collects 20 cents per $100 in property valuation and is set to expire in June 2027. Together, the taxes brought in nearly $35 million in the 2023 fiscal year, according to a city budget document.

“I’m 100% in support of maintaining these taxes. The tax is not increasing. The city’s not going to be increasing the tax, we’re just maintaining it to keep our city safe,” Garcia-Anderson said.

“I think it’s important to ensure that we have enough trained officers patrolling our communities especially at night, so that their response time is improved. As well as 911 response time for medics, sometimes that just takes too long,” she continued.

Taylor said the city needs to maintain funding levels, which ‘yes’ votes would do: “We can’t go lower when there are police officer vacancies and roads that need repair.”

“But I feel that we need a deeper dive. Yes, I agree with it. I do support it, but once again, that’s something we’ve already been having but we still only have half of the staff we need. We need to use our money better to recruit,” he continued.

Garcia-Anderson and Taylor have different positions on a proposal to tie rent increases to cost of living increases, as proposed by the Culinary Union last year.

Garcia-Anderson said she would not support such an initiative without statewide implementation: “I would not support rent control only affecting North Las Vegas because that would affect the quality of homes. There would be no incentives for investors to come in, and I think we would see a decrease in property values.”

Taylor said when he ran for mayor in 2022 he did not see the need for such legislation, but has changed his position after seeing rent prices dramatically increase since then.

If elected, Taylor said he would also prioritize zoning, land use, and affordable housing. Taylor said the city council needs to find solutions to prevent out-of-state investors from monopolizing housing stock, which Taylor said is contributing to rising housing costs and the housing shortage.

“We can’t price ourselves out of our own city, out of our own state. That doesn’t make sense,” Taylor said.

Incumbent Councilman Richard Cherchio represents Ward 4 and is running unopposed, meaning his name will not appear on June primary ballots but will appear as the only option on the November ballot. 

Ward 3 runs roughly south of Bruce Woodbury Beltway to Craig Road, and from Aliante Parkway to Pecos Road.

His campaign raised nearly $108,000 in contributions during the first quarter reporting period. His largest single contributor was the Laborers International Union Local 872, who donated $10,000 to his campaign. 

Cherchio did not respond to Current’s requests for an interview.

North Las Vegas City Council appointed Cherchio to represent Ward 4 in 2009. He ran to retain the seat in 2011 but lost in the general election by a single vote. He ran again in 2015 and 2019 and won both times.

Before running for public office, Cherchio worked as a USPS mail carrier for more than two decades, according to his campaign site.

On his campaign site, Cherchio lists various initiatives he helped achieve as a member of the North Las Vegas City Council for more than a decade. Those initiatives include the construction of a Veterans Resource Center, a Job Creation Zone on Pecos Road, establishing the Tule Springs Fossil Bed National Monument, and helping the City of North Las Vegas recover from a $150 million deficit.

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Walker Lake outside Walker River Paiute Tribe reservation. (Photo: Jeniffer Solis/Nevada Current)

Policy, politics and progressive commentary

For years, members of the Walker River Paiute Tribe who depend on well water have been plagued by water scarcity, brought on by a lack of infrastructure and funding. 

Between aging pipes, pollutants and regional drought, the tribe’s existing water infrastructure has been stretched to its limits — compromising both public health and economic development.

But after seven years of lobbying, the Walker River Paiute Tribe now has the funding it needs for a $12 million water system improvement project to secure a reliable and sustainable water supply for well users on the tribe’s reservation. 

In total, the project will provide a comprehensive domestic water supply distribution system for more than 100 residences on the reservation.

Andrea Martinez, the chair of the Walker River Paiute Tribe, said the tribe hopes to complete the project in a little over two years. The project will secure clean drinking water, and expand the tribe’s capacity to add new homes on the reservation.

“This has been a priority for the tribe for years. And we’re fortunate to get funding for this project. It’s really humbling to see this come to fruition. It gives me hope for the next generations of our tribe,” Martinez said. 

Last week, the Department of the Interior awarded the Walker River Paiute Tribe more than $2.4 million to construct a domestic water supply for communities solely dependent on well water.

That funding builds on a $5.2 million U.S Department of Commerce economic development grant to the tribe in 2023, a $1 million U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant for water quality improvements, and $3 million in drinking water state revolving loan funds. The remaining funds would be covered by the additional American Rescue Plan funding awarded to the tribe.

The $2.4 million grant awarded last week will be used to construct a 410,000-gallon water storage tank on the Walker River Paiute Reservation for the project, which will include about 25,000 feet of pipe across the reservation, and a new water line needed to construct housing.

“We’re going to be able to bring our people back home by having this water infrastructure and building out homes. Ultimately, I think that’s going to help our tribe continue to grow and succeed and be fruitful in the future,” Martinez said. “I think once we have the water infrastructure, we’ll be able to see our vision.”

‘Coming back home’

Nevada has 28 federally recognized tribes that span 28 reservations, bands, colonies and community councils. Most reservations in Nevada are remote and face a host of challenges unique to rural communities, including lack of infrastructure, inadequate water treatment facilities, and limited funding. 

Tribes in rural Nevada are highly vulnerable to water insecurity because of a lack of access to water infrastructure stemming from policy decisions made in the early days of federal agencies such as the Bureau of Reclamation.

Many homes that rely on well water don’t have adequate water pressure for home use, leaving residents with unreliable water access. A report by the Indian Health Service in 2019 noted that low water pressure in Walker River Paiute Tribe housing has led to health risks associated with bacteria growth in stagnant water.

Improvements to water infrastructure can reduce inpatient and outpatient visits related to respiratory, skin and soft tissue, and gastroenteric disease, according to IHS. Based on 2020 data, every $1 spent on water and sewer infrastructure can save $1.18 in avoided direct health care costs for these diseases.

Lack of adequate water pressure on the reservation also means that much of the reservation lacks the water pressure needed for piping fire hydrants, putting the tribe at severe risk of fire damage. Existing water storage capacity on the reservation falls short of meeting current codes for fire suppression, according to the Interior. 

“It could have been detrimental to our community if there were fires in areas that didn’t have adequate water pressure,” Martinez said. 

Lack of water infrastructure has cost the tribe, both in terms of public health and economic development, said Martinez.

“I think that’s probably one of the fundamental contributors to why we can’t have people come back home and work for the tribe. We talk about leaving the reservation, getting educated, coming back home to help your people and make something better for the tribe. But ultimately, what I have witnessed is that there are no homes for these individuals to come home to,” she said.

A number of current tribal employees are forced to live off the reservation despite a desire to return, due to lack of housing and the necessary infrastructure needed to support those homes, said Martinez.

“It’s just so sad and detrimental to see,” she continued.

The funding for water infrastructure is a huge game changer for the tribe, and will allow the tribe to build more homes and businesses,   said Martinez. The tribe is also wrapping up a $1 million water rights settlement with the Bureau of Reclamation that will secure the tribe’s water rights to the Weber Reservoir, and recognize the tribe’s jurisdiction over groundwater on their reservation.

“This is considered a historical settlement for the tribe. I believe it’s been over 100 years that we’ve been fighting for our water,” Martinez said.

Once the water infrastructure project is complete, the tribe can utilize those hard-fought water rights for the tribe’s benefit, she said.

“We can continue to build capacity and become successful, but also build cultural preservation. If we have more citizens living on the reservation there could be a stronger sense of cultural preservation and connection to our traditions and heritage.”

The funding for the $2.4 million grant will come from the Inflation Reduction Act passed by Congress in 2022. In total, the Department of the Interior announced $147.6 million in funding for 42 drought resilience projects in ten states last week.

In a statement announcing the funding, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland applauded the Biden administration for “making record investments to safeguard local water supplies and build climate resilience now and into the future.”

“By working together in close coordination with states, Tribes and other stakeholders, we can provide much needed relief for communities across the West that will have a lasting impact for generations,” Haaland said.

Editor note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated Nevada is home to 21 federally recognized tribes. Nevada is home to 28 federally recognized tribes that span 28 reservations, bands, colonies and community councils.

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Not a wolf. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Policy, politics and progressive commentary

Wildlife managers in Nevada confirmed Monday that a possible wolf pack sighting north of Elko months earlier was, in fact, a pack of coyotes.

The Nevada Department of Wildlife reported the possible wolf pack sighting in March, prompting state biologists to collect DNA from two scats and hair samples nearby to confirm whether or not the pack sighted were indeed wolves.

However, results from two independent genetic labs completed this month found that the three suspected wolves spotted near Merritt Mountain were almost certainly coyotes.

Analysis of the hair, fecal, and urine samples collected along the suspected wolf tracks in the snow revealed with 99.9% certainty that the samples were from coyotes, according to NDOW. 

“While initial observations indicated the possibility of wolves in the area, the DNA results of the samples collected indicated that these animals were, in fact, coyotes,” said NDOW Director Alan Jenne in a statement. 

“We appreciate the diligence of our biologists, assisting laboratory personnel and the public’s cooperation throughout this process and we will continue to monitor the area for any indication of wolf presence,” he continued.

The possible wolf sighting was announced after a helicopter crew conducting an aerial moose survey spotted three suspected wolves traveling together. State biologists who conducted ground surveys immediately after the sighting believed the fresh tracks in the snow were consistent with wolves at the time. 

The sighting could have been significant for Nevada, which has not confirmed a wolf pack in the state for more than a century. A single gray wolf was documented in Nevada west of the Black Rock Desert in 2016. Before then, the last confirmed Nevada sighting of a wolf was in 1922, near Elko County’s Gold Creek.

Jenne said he understood “the significance of such sightings and the importance of accurate identification.”

“NDOW will continue to work closely with state and federal agencies to uphold our mission of protecting Nevada’s ecosystems and wildlife while also maintaining transparency as a top priority in all our communications with the public,” Jenne said.

While Nevada has seen few confirmed wolf sightings in the last century, surrounding states have significant growing gray wolf populations. Idaho’s gray wolf population was estimated at 1,337 wolves in 2022, 37% higher than the original recovery goal for the animals, according to Idaho’s Department of Fish and Game.  

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife in 2023 reported about 200 gray wolves in nearly 25 packs in the state. Oregon state biologists also warned that the gray wolf population may have reached its ecological limit in the eastern third of the state, and that packs would likely spread out to the west and south in greater numbers. 

As of 2024, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said there are six known packs of gray wolves in the state for a total of 45 adult wolves, juveniles, and pups.

Gray wolves once ranged across all of North America, including the western United States. But decades of government-sponsored predator control programs brought gray wolves to near extinction in the lower 48 States. By the time wolves were protected under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, only a few hundred remained in northeastern Minnesota, and on Isle Royale, Michigan, according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

Amaroq Weiss, the senior wolf advocate at the conservation group Center for Biological Diversity, said it is important to understand that wolves are wide-ranging animals that often travel hundreds of miles seeking new territory and resources, and may cross into Nevada. Weiss also noted it isn’t uncommon for federally protected wolves to be mistaken for coyotes and killed.

“Dispersing wolves all too often get shot and killed by folks who mistakenly think what they are shooting is an enormous coyote, so it’s good to keep the public apprised there could be wolves – which are federally protected – in the area,” Weiss said.

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The state Division of Water Resources recently reported about 35 miles of dry channel with no flow on the Humboldt River. (Photo Credit: Colton Brunson, Water Commissioner, Nevada Division of Water Resources)

Policy, politics and progressive commentary

After two decades of dwindling aquifers, landowners in northern and central Nevada are choosing to surrender their groundwater rights to the state in exchange for cash payments, and more are waiting in line. 

Everyone from family farmers to residents in mid-sized towns depend on groundwater in Nevada, but over-pumping and persistent drought means there is simply not enough water to go around.

The Voluntary Water Rights Retirement Program was allocated a total of $25 million in funding last year to address groundwater conflicts by purchasing groundwater rights from private landowners in over-pumped and over-appropriated basins in northern and central Nevada communities, and there’s been massive interest.

While the program is only available to landowners in about half of Nevada’s counties, water rights sellers have offered to sell a total of $65.5 million in water rights in a matter of months — about $40 million more than available funding. 

“Farmers want to farm,” said Jeff Fontaine, the executive director of the Central Nevada Regional Water Authority and the Humboldt River Basin Water Authority. “But a lot of them see the writing on the wall.”

Throughout the Central Nevada Regional Water Authority region — an agency created to proactively address water resource issues in the region — there are 25 over-appropriated groundwater basins, eight of which are also over-pumped. An over-pumped basin is one that is pumped at a greater rate than it is replenished.

Water regulators have until September to enter into contractual agreements and acquire those groundwater rights, but as of May the program has already received commitments to retire more than 25,000 acre-feet of ground water annually. That’s about the average amount of water in both the Boca Reservoir and Donner Lake any given year.

“We’re gonna do that in one year,” said James Settelmeyer, director of the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, during a Joint Interim Standing Committee on Natural Resources meeting Friday.

Due to high interest in the program not every application will result in a purchase, but state water regulators noted that not a single applicant has voluntarily dropped out of the program.

“We had some of the oldest ranches in the state that were looking at selling,” Settelmeyer said, adding that the decision came down to the rising cost of digging deeper and deeper wells to reach the shrinking water table.

Water rights holders are asking “’Do I drill another well or take my old well and go down an additional 200 to 300 feet? Or do I look at this program?'” he said, adding, “there are some that are getting a bit older and may not have someone willing to take over the property.”

Nevada landowners understand they’re between a rock and a hard place, said local water regulators. 

Fontaine, the executive director of the Central Nevada Regional Water Authority and the Humboldt River Basin Water Authority, said sharply declining groundwater levels is what motivated farmers in Humboldt County’s Middle Reese River Valley and Antelope Valley to sell.

“Some of the applicants we talked to were looking at having to spend potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars to deepen their wells. And at some point they realized that the situation isn’t getting any better anytime soon,” Fontaine said, during the Friday meeting.

Most of the funding will likely go to Eureka’s Diamond Valley, a small farming community in central Nevada, and the state’s only “critical management area,” as designated by the Nevada State Water Engineer. The designation means the valley’s groundwater levels are rapidly declining, and groundwater rights holders in the area are required to create a plan to address over-pumping or risk losing their rights.

More water rights than water

If all sales go through, the state expects to retire about 30% of the annual groundwater yield in Diamond Valley, Fontaine said.

Water regulators said the program application process was designed to purchase water rights that are in regular use and to weed out water rights sellers who have not pumped over the last five years, in order to effectively address shrinking aquifers in northern and central Nevada. 

Decades of granting more water rights than actual available water has left Nevada in a difficult position. Before electricity and modern pumping technology was available, there was little threat of draining an aquifer “but times have changed,” Fontaine said.

“The state did over-appropriate these groundwater basins. The past thinking was that water users were not going to put their entire allocations to use,” he said. 

Colorado, Kansas and Oregon have set up similar programs. But those programs have not seen the level of interest and demand Nevada’s water retirement program has. 

“There was a lot of interest in this program. In fact, I would say that it exceeded our expectations,” Fontaine said.

During the meeting, water managers and conservation groups in the state emphasized the need to establish a permanent statewide voluntary water rights retirement program based on the success of the limited program currently available for select counties.

Republican Nevada State Sen. Pete Goicoechea sponsored a bill in 2023 that would have created a statewide program to buy and retire water rights. But the legislation never made it to the floor for a vote.

“As we go into the next legislative session, we have the chance to take this pilot project and its learnings and create a stable funding mechanism to ensure that we can leverage these opportunities in the future,” said Peter Stanton, the CEO of the Walker Lake Conservancy, which focuses on restoring and maintaining Walker Lake.

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Lake Tahoe on April 22, 2024. (Photo: Jeff Anderson/ USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service)

Policy, politics and progressive commentary

Nevada can expect a healthy water year — with some caveats — thanks to a hardy winter snowpack and generous spring showers. 

As snow melts through the summer, most key reservoirs in northern Nevada and the Sierra are expected to reach full volume this spring, according to the Natural Resource Conservation Services’ May water supply outlook report.

Across the state, winter snowpack peaked above the historical median after strong storms in January, February and March. 

Snowpacks in Nevada also remained above normal in May, despite a dry April and areas of record snowmelt, according to the report. The month started off strong, after a cold storm brought up to 2 feet of snow at the highest elevations across northern Nevada, adding up to 1.5 inches of water equivalent.

Lake Tahoe is expected to see some of the largest benefits from Nevada’s second straight year of favorable winter snowpack. 

Forecasts predict spring snowmelt will likely be enough to fill Lake Tahoe for the first time since June 2019. Once full, the water stored in Lake Tahoe could supply water demand in northern Nevada for three years, even if future winter snowpacks are below normal.

With the glaring exception of Lake Mead, nearly all major Nevada reservoirs have hit at least 80% storage capacity. Lake Mead is only at 36% capacity.

Abundant precipitation in Nevada has left most of the state drought free as of May — except for a small portion of southern Nevada — after rain and snowmelt removed abnormally dry conditions in western Nevada. In fact, the Humboldt basin in northwestern Nevada saw the highest precipitation percentage in the western United States outside of Alaska, receiving 23.7 inches of precipitation so far, according to the report. 

Above normal snowpack this year, combined with good soil moisture is also expected to improve runoff this spring as less snowmelt is soaked up by the soil. Higher soil moisture is also a good sign for fire mitigation, as the state heads into wildfire season. 

Favorable weather in southern Nevada and slightly above normal rainfall in early spring helped snowpack in the Spring Mountains near Las Vegas stay intact nearly three weeks later than usual, resulting in some extended snow capped mountains in the lower half of the state.

But mild weather in Las Vegas is likely coming to an end. According to the National Weather Services’ summer weather predictions, Las Vegas is forecast to have above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation from June to August. 

In the Upper Colorado Basin, a major water source for Lake Mead, May snowpack is at 91%, slightly below the historical median. However, high temperatures across the Upper Colorado Basin have accelerated snow melt, thus melting a significant amount of snow before it’s most needed in the summer. 

Between April and May, several monitoring stations in the Upper Colorado Basin recorded record or near record snow melt. Eastern Sierra and the Great Basin also experienced record or near record snow melt during that time, according to the report. 

Despite some concerns, federal resource managers said Nevada’s 2024 water year is “well on its way to receiving an A on its final report card,” according to the report. 

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Earthworks in preparation for major construction of Thacker Pass scheduled to begin in the second half of 2024. (Photo: Lithium Americas corporate presentation, May 2024)

Policy, politics and progressive commentary

Nevada’s mining industry may soon get a reprieve after the Republican-controlled U.S. House passed industry-friendly legislation Wednesday, undoing a consequential court decision that restricted mining companies’ use of federal lands.

The Mining Regulatory Clarity Act of 2024 — introduced by Nevada Republican Rep. Mark Amodei — passed on a 216-195 vote, reversing a vote last week to return the bill to committee.

The bill would allow mining companies to conduct mining support operations on federal lands without valuable mineral deposits, including road maintenance, transmission lines, pipelines, and the construction of any other support facility needed at a mining site.

“Securing our domestic mineral supply chain is not only critical to our nation’s economic success, but to our national security. Now more than ever, we must ensure we are doing all that we can to increase domestic mineral production and protect the ability to conduct responsible mining activities on federal lands,” said Amodei in a statement.

Mining developers in Nevada have had to grapple with the aftermath of a 2022 federal appeals court ruling that imposed a stricter interpretation of the 150-year-old General Mining Law, restricting mining companies from using federal lands without valuable mineral deposits for mining related purposes.

Prior to the federal appeals court decision, mining companies used neighboring federal lands without valuable mineral deposits for mining related purposes – such as waste rock disposal or running power lines – without issue for decades.

The ruling — known as the “Rosemont decision” — blocked an Arizona mining project from dumping waste rock on U.S. Forest Service land. The court ruled that while federal mining law allows companies to mine on federal land where economically valuable minerals are present, they are not guaranteed the right to use federal land without valuable minerals as a dumping site.

Despite support from Arkansas Republican and House Natural Resource Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman, the bill faced some hurdles last week when six members of Amodei’s own party joined Democrats to block a bill.

Lawmakers did not make changes to the bill between the May 1 vote and Wednesday, but the presence of several Republicans who were absent last week allowed the measure to pass on the second attempt.

Rep. Pete Stauber of Minnesota, who chairs the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources and led Republican floor debate Wednesday, called the bill a benefit to domestic mining interests and a correction of the Rosemont decision.

 “This is a simple fix,” Stauber said. “We believe the court erred, so it’s our job to legislate.”

During floor debate Wednesday, New Mexico Democrat Melanie Stansbury called the bill a giveaway to mining companies, including those based in China and other countries.

“Why the heck are we back on the House floor one week after we voted on a bipartisan basis to send this bad bill back to committee?” Stansbury said on the House floor.

Not all Democrats in Congress oppose Amodei’s bill, which opponents have described as a corporate giveaway. While Nevada Democratic Reps. Dina Titus and Susie Lee voted against the measure, Nevada Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford was one of eight Democrats who voted for the legislation.

And Nevada Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto Wednesday praised House approval of the the bill, and called for the Senate to move quickly on companion  legislation she and Idaho Republican Sen. Jim Risch introduced in the Senate. Nevada Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen is also a cosponsor of the Senate companion bill, along with Senate Republicans Mike Crapo of Idaho and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.

“Without a fix, the Rosemont decision could upend existing and future mining projects, threatening thousands of jobs in Nevada and across the West. I’ll continue to stand up for our communities and for our clean energy future,” said Cortez Masto in a statement.

Cortez Masto has argued that restricting mining companies from using public land that does not contain economically valuable minerals for waste storage or processing is “misguided.”

Some conservation groups warned that the broad scope of the legislation is alarming and could make room for speculative mining claims on public lands without a documented mineral deposit.

“This bill would create a free-for-all on public lands, with speculators able to file claims even when there are no valuable minerals present,” said Patrick Donnelly, Great Basin director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Nevada is at the epicenter of a huge mining boom right now, and our public lands need strengthened protections. Instead this bill aims to unleash the mining industry, with devastating consequences for Nevada’s wildlife and communities.”

In Nevada, the Rosemont decision has proved consequential to the mining industry, which enjoys broad use of public lands under the 150-year-old General Mining Law, unlike other extractive industries. 

In the case of a planned molybdenum mine by Nevada-based developer Eureka Moly LLC, a district court judge vacated the 2019 Bureau of Land Management’s approval of the project after ruling the developer did not have the right to dump waste rock on federal land without valuable mineral deposits.

The new stricter interpretation of the 150-year-old General Mining Law under the federal appeals court ruling also affects what may potentially become the largest lithium mine in the United States, the Thacker Pass project south of the Nevada-Oregon border. Last year, a district judge cited the Arizona ruling when determining that federal land managers violated federal law when they approved the mine developer’s plan to bury 1,300 acres of public land under waste rock.

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Landscape view of Bahsahwahbee from Rose Guano Mountain. (Photo: Monte Sanford)

Policy, politics and progressive commentary

Monday marked the anniversary of a violent massacre in Nevada’s Spring Valley by federal soldiers, who in 1863 targeted Native men, women, and children gathered for a religious ceremony in a sacred stand of Rocky Mountain junipers.

For decades, tribal members have fought to protect the unique grove of Rocky Mountain junipers growing on the valley floor, where hundreds of Native people were massacred in the 1800s by settlers and the federal government to pave the way for western expansion.

The region known to tribal members in Nevada as Bahsahwahbee — Shoshoni for “Sacred Water Valley” — is where the spirits of their ancestors killed during those massacres live on in the trees that grew in their place.

The Ely Shoshone, Duckwater Shoshone, and the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation — a coalition representing about 1,500 enrolled tribal members — commemorated the anniversary of the May 6, 1863 massacre by calling on the Biden administration to designate Bahsahwahbee, locally known as the Swamp Cedars, as a National Monument within the National Park System.

“Bahsahwabee links our past to our future, and it’s time for the federal government and officials to center our tribes and get our proposal across the finish line,” said Alvin Marques, chairman of the Ely Shoshone Tribe. “This monument in the National Park System gives us the comfort that our culture will be preserved, for our slain ancestors, our elders, and the generations to come.”

Currently, about 3,200 acres of Bahsahwahbee are designated as an area of critical environmental concern under the Bureau of Land Management, but those protections are limited and only apply to a portion of the much larger cultural area. 

Most of the Swamp Cedars 14,175 acres remain largely unprotected against threats from climate change, drought, and over-pumping of groundwater. If Bahsahwahbee became a monument, the land would transfer to the National Park Service, where it could be managed in cooperation with the tribes.

There are two ways national monuments can be designated: either by Congress through legislation, or by the president through the Antiquities Act of 1906. A large portion of Bahsahwahbee is already listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the proposal to designate the site as a national monument enjoys broad support throughout Nevada.

In 2021, the Nevada Legislature passed a resolution urging Congress to designate Bahsahwahbee as a national monument. A year later, lawmakers in White Pine County — home of the future monument — approved a final letter of support for the designation.

Democratic U.S. Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen said they plan to introduce a bill in Congress that would designate the 25,000 acre sacred site as a national monument within the National Park System. Last year, both senators also began lobbying Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in support of the Bahsahwahbee National Monument.

That support has only grown in recent months, including from regional conservation groups, energy companies, and even Patagonia — a popular clothes retailer. 

“That so many organizations across Nevada and the Nation are supporting our Tribes’ effort to designate Bahsahwahbee as a National Monument within the National Park System means a great deal to us as Native Americans. Too often, Tribes are isolated in our work to heal our traumas from the past, to tell our stories, and to move forward in a good and inclusive way on such a monumentally significant initiative like this monument effort,” said Amos Murphy, chairman of the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation, on Monday.

“We could not do this without their help. And for that, we are incredibly grateful.”

For tribes, the area serves as a living memorial of three separate massacres between 1850 and 1900, one of them a military attack in 1859 that killed an estimated 500 to 700 Native people in one of the largest massacres of Native people in U.S. history. The site still remains a place of healing and mourning for Indigenous Peoples across the Great Basin, who continue to visit the site to connect with their ancestors, offer prayers, and hold healing ceremonies.

“Bahasahwahbee has been the Tribes’ ceremonial gathering area for millennia,” said Monte Sanford, the tribes’ National Monument Campaign Director. “We hope this year will be a turning point for the Tribes, after more than 161 years, to finally have a voice in the future of Bahsahwahbee.”

Last month, representatives for the Ely Shoshone, Duckwater Shoshone, and the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation met with senior White House officials and top personnel within the Department of Interior to discuss the Bahsahwahbee National Monument. Monte said supporters of the monument came away from the meeting optimistic about the monument’s future.

“We feel good that President Biden will see Bahsahwahbee National Monument within the National Park System as important and good for the nation, and will designate it sometime this year,” Monte said. 

If successful, Bahsahwahbee would also join Avi Kwa Ame — a biologically significant landscape in southern Nevada — as the fifth national monument in Nevada. Nevada’s Avi Kwa Ame was one of five national monuments President Joe Biden created in 2023, using his authority under the Antiquities Act of 1906.

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A half-dozen Republicans voted with all the Democrats to send Amodei's bill back to committee. (Photo: Richard Bednarksi/Nevada Current)

Policy, politics and progressive commentary

Nevada’s lone congressional Republican suffered a blow this week after six members of his own party joined Democrats to block a bill he authored to address a court ruling adopting a stricter interpretation of the 150-year-old General Mining Law.

Mining developers looking to extract minerals in Nevada are grappling with the aftermath of a 2022 U.S. appellate court ruling that essentially restricted mining companies from dumping waste on federal lands.

While federal mining law allows companies to mine on federal land where economically valuable minerals are present, the federal court decision ruled that companies are not guaranteed the right to use adjacent federal land without valuable minerals for related purposes – such as waste rock disposal or running power lines.

The Mining Regulatory Clarity Act of 2024 — introduced by Nevada Republican Rep. Mark Amodei —would respond to the ruling by removing a provision in an 1872 federal mining law that mining companies must show a mineral deposit is present before building roads and other support facilities at a potential site.

However, the legislation died on the House floor Wednesday after a 210-206 vote to send the bill back to the House Natural Resources committee. Amodei’s office did not respond in time for publication. 

Six hard-line Republicans — Andy Biggs and Eli Crane of Arizona, Dan Bishop of North Carolina, Bob Good of Virginia and Matt Gaetz and Anna Paulina Luna of Florida — voted with all Democrats to block the bill.

During floor debate, Republicans argued the bill was needed to clarify a 2022 federal appeals court decision that blocked approvals for mining support facilities at an Arizona copper mine.

“The decision limited the ability of the Forest Service to approve necessary mining support facilities and activity, which is necessary for mining operations,” Minnesota Republican Pete Stauber said Wednesday. The decision “put virtually every new domestic mining project in jeopardy.”

In Nevada, the appellate court ruling has the potential to send mining projects — years in the making — back to square one.

In the case of a planned molybdenum mine by Nevada-based developer Eureka Moly LLC, a district court judge vacated the 2019 Bureau of Land Management’s approval of the project after ruling the developer did not have the right to dump waste rock on federal land without valuable mineral deposits.

The new stricter interpretation of the 150-year-old General Mining Law, also affected what may potentially become the largest lithium mine in the United States, the Thacker Pass project south of the Nevada-Oregon border. Last year, a district judge cited the Arizona ruling when determining that federal land managers violated federal law when they approved the mine developer’s plan to bury 1,300 acres of public land under waste rock.

Prior to the court decision adopting a stricter interpretation of the 150-year-old General Mining Law, mining companies had been dumping mining waste on neighboring federal lands without issue for decades. 

House Democrats argued Amodei’s bill would only benefit the mining industry by making it easier for companies to develop sites without documented mineral deposits. On the House floor, Democrats said the bill would give too much power to — and provide too little accountability for — mining companies that already work in a favorable regulatory environment.

New Mexico Democrat Melanie Stansbury said mining companies operate under an 1872 law that provides nearly unfettered access to lands that other extractive industries “could only dream of.”

Congress should be improving environmental protections to the 19th-century law, but the bill considered Wednesday would only weaken existing protections, she said.

“This bill removes the one frail safeguard that we have,” she said. “Under this bill, any American — or frankly any American subsidiary of a foreign company, including those that are located in adversarial countries — can put four stakes in the ground and on open public lands pay less than $10 an acre per year to have exclusive rights to that land, forever. Forever. This bill would create a free-for-all on our public lands.”

Both Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Senate have described the federal appeals court decision as “a significant departure from long-held mining practices.” Last year, Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto has proposed a similar bill — the Mining Regulatory Clarity Act — that would make it legal to use part of a mining claim for mining related purposes on land without valuable minerals, including waste rock disposal.

States Newsroom reporter Jacob Fischler contributed to this report.

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