Sample Letter: Scoping comments on the Environmental Impact Statement on the Groundwater Exportation Project for the Southern Nevada Water Authority.

Print the letter today by downloading it, sign and print your name (include your address), and mail it.   The Deadline for submission is now extended to Monday, August 1, 2005.  Do it today and make your voice heard.

(BLM's Web and Email system is down as of this writing -- as it has been now continuously since March.  Mailing your letter is the only option.)

Download printable versions of the Sample Letter for you to sign and send today . . . and thanks!   (html or pdf)

• Analyze ALL water exportation projects impacts and do a cumulative impacts analysis.
• Assure a transparent process which uses public and peer reviewed data and scientific models.
• Account for all existing water uses including those for existing users, springs, rivers, creeks.
• Assess all impacts on rural communities in eastern Nevada and western Utah and their economic futures.
• Assess the impacts of continued explosive growth air and water quality in metropolitan Las Vegas.
• Compute the true cost (including financing costs) for the project.
• Evaluate alternatives including no action, minimal groundwater exportation using rural groundwater only as supplemental to existing Colorado River supplies, and alternative water supply options for Las Vegas, including: increased water conservation, increased Colorado River water from various sources, desalinization, and reduced growth in urban areas of southern Nevada.

• How will the water project affect Great Basin and Death Valley National Parks, Fish Springs, Pahranagat, Desert, Moapa, Ash Meadows and Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuges, Wayne Kirch, Key Pittman, Railroad Valley and Overton Wildlife Management Areas, Beaver Dam, Cathedral Gorge, Echo Canyon Reservoir and Kershaw-Ryan State Parks and Lake Mead National Recreation Area?
• What are project impacts on the biodiversity of the area as well as the federal listed, proposed and candidate species, including the 298+ species on the Nevada Natural Heritage Program list within the project area?
• What monitoring and pumping controls are needed to identify and eliminate adverse impacts of groundwater pumping and exportation on the environment, local economies, and wildlife? Can the BLM enforce rules on the proponent to eliminate impacts?