Nevada water law ruling backs state engineer’s powers, further stalls Coyote Springs project
Conservationists are calling a recent decision by the Nevada Supreme Court updating the state’s water law a significant victory because the ruling paves the way for the state to restrict groundwater pumping if it will affect other users and wildlife. The court’s decision last month gives the state’s top water official the authority to regulate how underground supplies are distributed. The ruling, a blow to stalled plans for the Coyote Springs master-planned community north of Las Vegas, enhances the survival for an endangered species of fish native only to natural springs in the area. The Center for Biological Diversity was a respondent in the case to protect the Moapa dace, a rare fish that only resides in the warm springs of the upper Muddy River and earned endangered status in 1967.