Lawsuits

The Goedhart Resolution to stop frivolous lawsuits doesn't make it out of committee. But it raised awareness so new the State Engineer Tracy Taylor is trying to tackle the backlog of 1900 Protests!

Water meetings designed to cut through protest backlog
Karen Woodmansee
Appeal Staff Writer, kwoodmansee@nevadaappeal.com
April 18, 2007

In an attempt to end a backlog of about 1,900 protests that are holding up water applications, the state engineer encouraged all parties to work out as many issues as possible before they came into the hearing room.

State Engineer Tracy Taylor is considering giving 90 days for applicants and protesters to work out their issues. The protester would have 30 days to outline objections and an applicant another 30 days to respond, followed by another 30 days for the protester to verify his claims. Any issues on water applications that could not be resolved would be decided by the state engineer after a hearing.

"It's not going to benefit anyone to litigate every application that comes before us," he said.

Taylor said he would decide for certain the timeline sometime in the near future.

Two pre-hearing conferences at the state engineer's office Tuesday, one for Douglas County and one for Lyon County, brought different results.

Following the Lyon County meeting, Rusty Jardine of Churchill County called the developers, engineers and water purveyors in the room together to pick a date for the stakeholders meeting. They settled on May 15.

Mike Workman, Lyon County Utilities Director, agreed with the proposed process.

"We have had several meetings with Churchill County (officials) to resolve our differences, and we've had some progress," he said. "We're not just out there trying to cowboy this in, we're committed to the process."

Workman said Lyon County is committed to protecting water resources and has spent a lot of money creating infrastructure including an aggressive well-monitoring plan.

Those at the Douglas County meeting didn't take any action.

Most water change applications are protested by downstream water rights holders such as Churchill County or the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, which protests every water change.

Don Springmeyer, attorney for the Pyramid Lake tribe, indicated the tribe would like to see applications halted until what he called overappropriation of the Carson Valley and Dayton Valley basins could be addressed, but Taylor opposed that option.

"I don't think we can hold back on applications during this process," he said. "I think that in your protest I want you to analyze each protest application. You say the basin is overappropriated and it may or may not be."

Chief Hearing Officer Susan Joseph-Taylor, no relation to the State Engineer, said the Division of Water Resources position was the basins are at equilibrium. She said Springmeyer was looking to "regulate the basins, cut off applications and cut off water rights," she said. "Where we sit, we think the basins are in balance."

Springmeyer called cutting off applications one option, but also said he wanted a comprehensive policy for the basin, similar to the entities that have water rights in the Truckee Meadows.

He said former State Engineer Hugh Ricci, in a meeting in Dayton in 2005, indicated the basin was overappropriated.

He added his clients routinely protest every application to be consistent, because they have been accused of inconsistency in the past.

Douglas County Engineer Carl Ruschmeyer complained that diversions of water to certain wells was required by federal regulations, but when that is done, the Paiute tribe protests, even when water is moved 150 feet across a street.

• Contact reporter Karen Woodmansee at kwoodmansee@nevadaappeal.com or 882-2111 ext. 351

Apr. 04, 2007
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Bill targets federal protests of water rights applications

By AMANDA FEHD
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CARSON CITY -- A rural Nevada lawmaker wants Cabinet-level approval of what he considers frivolous government protests to certain water rights applications, a move he said would protect water that belongs to people of the state.

Assemblyman Ed Goedhart, R-Amargosa Valley, told the Assembly Government Affairs Committee on Tuesday that his Assembly Bill 425 is a response to many protests by the National Park Service and federal Bureau of Land Management to water rights applications in southern Nye County.

"It's having a devastating impact on the rural communities who do depend upon the lawful, legal use of their appropriation of groundwater that I believe belongs to the people of the state of Nevada," Goedhart said. "One of the most important things we can do is preserve citizens' rights to their property."

AB425 would prohibit the state water engineer from considering a protest filed by any government agency unless it's signed by the head of that agency, including the Interior secretary, who oversees the BLM, park service and Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Agriculture secretary, who oversees the U.S. Forest Service.

Assemblyman David Bobzien, D-Reno, said the bill would essentially shut out federal agencies, which often have concerns related to conservation.

"A common theme in this session when it comes to water is to ensure we have as public a process as possible," Bobzien said.

Goedhart said the bill would ensure more openness.

"This does not preclude them from having a seat at the table. ... I believe this brings accountability and transparency to the process. Now they can't say it was done by a guy who signed it in a back room," Goedhart said.

The BLM (including the military) manages MOST of Nevada and we, the people, have only a small fraction of the state we can call our own.

So on our small portion of land we have the right to live, conduct business, and raise our families ... or at least you would THINK that we would have that right.

What would happen if you wanted to transfer water rights THAT YOU OWN from one property to another THAT YOU OWN?

What would happen if you wanted to start a new business and wish to USE WATER THAT YOU OWN in your new business.

The truth is, you will be protested by the National Park Service and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Bob Williams of the US Fish and Wildlife said in a news conference that they protest every water rights and land proposal as a matter of course. In other words: THEY PROTEST EVERYTHING whether legitimate or not. Now that is the definition of frivolous.

The Nye County commissioners have approved resolutions in both 2004 and 2005 to get the Nevada Division of Water Resources to dismiss all these frivolous protests but they have done nothing yet.

This is costing you your freedoms, your rights, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorneys! Still the federal protests continue. This is costing Nye County millions of dollars in lost economic development and investment and hundreds of lost jobs!

This is costing you by not allowing you use your own property! The Federal government is guilty of violating the "Takings Clause" that we are protected against in the US Constitution. Our Nevada Department of Water Resources is an unwitting accomplice through their inaction. Look at the Nye County resolution that the Department of water resources has failed to respond to for THREE YEARS!

Article from Jan. 3 Pahrump Valley Times

Goedhart requested another bill to change Nevada water law to require the expeditious processing of protests over permitted water uses.

"Because the Nevada Division on Water Resources hasn't been dismissing the frivolous protests filed by federal agencies on a timely basis it's now going to be necessary to handle it from a legislative point of view," Goedhart said.

"Nevada water law will be changed so only a protest that has moved up through the rank and file out of Fish and Wildlife service or BLM or parks service has to come across the Secretary of the Interior's desk in order to be recognized as a valid protest," Goedhart said.

"By doing this we hope to cut down on the number of arbitrary and capricious protests that are hindering the rural counties' ability to lawfully and legally use the waters of the people of the state of Nevada," he said.

Check out whole article

Read the resolution first, The one approved twice by the Nye County Commissioners and ignored by Division of Water Resources.

Contact your assemblyperson because even thought the Assembly is out of session it is preparatory work for the next session in 2009!