Great Basin Water Network tells the “real reason” why Utah politicians laid down for Las Vegas water steal-
The Great Basin Water Network says Utah will give up Snake Valley and state’s air quality to Las Vegas for support of their own urban sprawl pipeline — Lake Powell to St. George, UT.
Pat Mulroy (image), the Southern Nevada Water Authority executive director (said to be the most powerful woman in Nevada).
Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He has been a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and also its President. For many years he produced Ralph Maughan's Wolf Report. He was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He and Jackie Johnson Maughan wrote three editions of "Hiking Idaho." He also wrote "Beyond the Tetons" and "Backpacking Wyoming's Teton and Washakie Wilderness." He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News.
I don’t buy that rationale. The pipeline from Powell to St George has a life of its own completely independent of the Snake Valley mess. The pipeline may die on its own in the realistic assessment of water levels in Lake Powell during the span of time required to pay for the pipeline. If the lake levels drop as climate projections suggest the pipeline may be fiscally infeasible.
Utah has a lot of ties with Nevada and Las Vegas. Some of the heavy hitters in Vegas are LDS and can work their own special levers of power in the gov’t of Utah. I would consider that a more likely reason for Utah’s capitulation over the Snake Valley mess than claiming Nevada can muck up a pipeline deal in which, on the face of it, Utah is simply using water it already owns.
It sure seems to me the Mormon network is what did this. Mormon housing developers screwed the Mormon ranchers of NV and UT.