LAS VEGAS (AP) — Clark County officials have proposed a public lands bill aiming to create new conservation areas and allow for more development, but critics in Nevada and Utah say its language could permit a proposed water pipeline project.
The Las Vegas Sun reports the draft legislation directs the secretary of the interior to convey federal lands to the water authority and grants them a right of way to federal lands for construction and operation of a power line.
Officials say the proposal calls for the construction of a series of buried pipelines that would pump groundwater along the eastern state border and deliver it to Las Vegas.
Opponents from dozens of regional organizations and tribes say pipeline would suck up needed groundwater, drying plants and potentially causing intense dust storms.