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.
Latest News
- KRRC Newsletter regarding Klamath Dam Removal
- Berkey Williams LLP Welcomes Indian Law Fellow Siena Kalina
- Berkey Williams LLP Welcomes Senior Associate Michele Fahley
- Curtis Berkey, Erica Costa and Aviva Simon author “Revitalizing Stewardship and Use of Tribal Traditional Properties: Options for Improving California Policy and Law in State-Managed Lands and Waters.”
- Onondaga Nation Prevails in Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Proceeding; Secures Admissibility Decision on Land Rights Petition