LAS VEGAS (AP) - The Nevada Legislature may be asked to pass a law to fix a state Supreme Court ruling that threatens to scuttle a huge Las Vegas water pipeline project, officials said.
Allen Biaggi, director of the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal for a Thursday report that he was crafting a bill for state lawmakers to consider during the special budget session set to start Feb. 23.
Gov. Jim Gibbons' chief of staff, Lynn Hettrick, said the governor was considering adding the water issue to the special session agenda.
"This has a huge impact to the state of Nevada and not just the Southern Nevada Water Authority," Hettrick said.
Biaggi said he was concerned that water rights across Nevada could be affected by the court's Jan. 28 ruling that the state engineer missed a requirement to act within a year on key water rights applications.
The court ruled unanimously that a 2003 law that sought to exempt pending water rights applications from the one-year deadline did not apply to pending applications filed before July 1, 2002.