City still weighing options on canal EIS
Robert Perea, The Fernley Reporter
The City of Fernley is still weighing its options after the release earlier this month of the Environmental Impact Statement on the Bureau of Reclamation’s project to line a portion of the Truckee-Carson Irrigation Canal through Fernley.
City Manager said at the Oct. 7 meeting of the Fernley City Council that the city’s water team and legal team are reviewing the document, and the city is trying to set up a meeting with the state’s Congressional delegation.
Meanwhile, Nick Vander Poel of Capital Partners, the lobbying firm contracted by the City, told the Council he has requested a meeting with the Commissioner of Bureau of Reclamation.
The BOR has proposed lining a portion of the canal through Fernley to repair damage from a breach in January, 2008 that flooded about 590 homes. However, the City is concerned that would eliminate seepage through the bottom of the canal that recharges the groundwater the City uses for its municipal water supply, and which many domestic wells rely on.
Common sense says absolutely no! Our wells depend on this canal. Our town is gonna make a contractor rich as we rape the people of their water. Gee, like water in this town isn’t already a flippen issue!