Greenwire: If the Las Vegas area builds up all 27,000 acres currently zoned for development, even the strictest conservation measures would not be enough to provide new residents with water, according to a new report by the Sonoran Institute, an Arizona-based think tank that focuses on development in the West.
The report, funded by the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada and the regional chapter of the Sierra Club, probes the question now facing Las Vegas after decades of unchecked growth: whether to restrict development to discourage people from moving to the resource-strapped region, or to build expensive new infrastructure to make it possible.
Pat Mulroy, executive director of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, has pushed for a pipeline that would carry water to about 250,000 homes at a cost of between $2 billion and $3.5 billion. The two-decade-old project was set back in January when the Nevada Supreme Court ruled that the pipeline’s approval did not follow permitting rules (Greenwire, Jan. 29).
Clark County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani, who agrees with the conclusion that Las Vegas development is unsustainable, said planning managers currently lack the authority to oversee a unified development plan for southern Nevada. She said the region needs to restructure its oversight bodies to produce a master plan that includes energy needs, water use, environmental impacts, industrial diversification and transportation infrastructure.
“That, I think, is the best way to approach this,” Giunchigliani said. “I think there’s an opportunity here. I don’t think we’ll see the type of resistance here that you would have seen when everyone was depending on growth” (Stephanie Tavares, Las Vegas Sun, April 12). – GN