01/28/10

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) _ The Nevada Supreme Court has struck
down the Southern Nevada Water Authority's claims to thousands of
acre-feet of rural Nevada water, sending the agency's pipeline
project back to a lower court.

In an unanimous ruling Thursday, justices said Nevada law
required the state engineer to act on SNWA's 1989 water rights
applications within a year. Instead, they weren't considered until
more than a decade later, after many people who initially filed
protests had either died or moved away. Others who later moved to
affected areas were unaware of the applications.

Though a law passed by the 2003 Legislature allows the state
engineer to extend the hearing process for municipal use
applications, the Supreme Court said the law was not retroactive.

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