Time is almost up. Wednesday June 15, 2005, is the deadline for submitting scoping comments to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on the Clark, Lincoln, and White Pine Counties Groundwater Development Project.

Since April, the BLM has encouraged the public to provide input on Southern Nevada Water Authority's plan to build and operate pipelines and other facilities on public lands that can transport up to 180,000 acre feet of groundwater each year from rural Nevada to the Las Vegas Valley. Scoping comments received by the deadline will be used to help the BLM identify the issues and alternatives to the plan that will be analyzed in the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

The need for an EIS was triggered last year when the Water Authority applied for rights-of-way across public lands managed by the BLM in rural Clark, Lincoln, and White Pine Counties to build the pipeline and other facilities. The EIS will assess the impacts the Water Authority's groundwater development plan could have on the environment and will include alternatives to the Water Authority's plan for the project. Federal environmental laws require the BLM to complete the EIS before the Water Authority can proceed with the project. A final decision is expected to be made in mid-2007.

Beginning in late April, the BLM conducted a series of nine scoping meetings - six in Nevada and three in Utah. More than 650 residents of both states attended the meetings and 210 people spoke. In addition, since scoping began, the BLM has received several hundred written comments on the project. The BLM plans to release a summary of the comments received after all the comments have been reviewed and analyzed.