Victory in Goshute Case

The Goshute Tribe, represented by Scott Williams, was successful in the first stage of court proceedings challenging a proposal to withdraw and export to Las Vegas, massive amounts of groundwater from the Great Basin of Nevada/Utah, the Tribe’s ancestral lands. In a decision filed December 13, 2013, the Nevada state trial court issued a decision overturning the Nevada State Engineer’s approval of the permanent withdrawal of the groundwater from the pristine, rural valleys of the Great Basin. Evidence presented by the Tribe and its allies demonstrated that the removal of the groundwater would cause the extinction of the springs, wetlands, plant life and animals on which the Tribe had depended since the beginning of time. The trial court judge remanded the matter to the State Engineer for further hearings consistent with his ruling. The project’s proponents may also appeal his ruling to the Nevada Supreme Court.