Water grab damned by PLAN

In spite of expectations that Southern Nevada Water Authority and corporate lobbyists would slip a change in water law through the special session of the Nevada Legislature in its closing hours, it didn’t happen.

SNWA, led by its general manager Pat Mulroy (often described as the most powerful woman in Nevada) and aided by U.S. Sen. Harry Reid (often described as the most powerful man in Nevada) was well on its way to acquiring water in rural eastern Nevada to supply Clark County growth when the Nevada Supreme Court blocked its water applications.

Opponents of the water grab credited lobbying by Progressive Leadership of Nevada lobbyist Jan Gilbert and Nevada Conservation League lobbyist Kyle Davis with preventing enactment of the legislation overturning the court ruling. (“Who’s the “most powerful woman in Nevada” now, SNWA Czarina Pat Mulroy? Or Jan Gilbert?” read a PLAN mailing.)

But the corporate and SNWA lobbyists will be trying again at the regular 2011 session of the legislature.