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Bureau Of Reclamation initiates studies for final Truckee Canal fix

Reno Gazette-Journal-12/8/10

By Betty Aleck

Following a presentation by officials from the Bureau of Reclamation, City of Fernley Mayor LeRoy Goodman wrapped up a non-action discussion by saying that the citizens of Fernley won't know until July of 2012 what approach the BOR will take on repairing the Truckee Canal.

In the early morning hours on Jan. 5, 2008, a 40-foot section of the Truckee Canal breached, which impacted hundreds of residents whose homes were in a nearby flood zone.

Reid says he will sign river deal on Sept. 6

Reid says he will sign river deal on Sept. 6 By Susan Voyles • svoyles@rgj.com • August 23, 2008

Saying it's the biggest thing he has ever done for Nevada, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he definitely will be on hand to sign the historic Truckee River Operating Agreement in Wingfield Park on Sept. In addition to settling 100 years of water wars between Nevada and California, the agreement provides storage for drought-year water supplies in Sierra reservoirs for years to come for the Reno and Sparks area.

That storage, officials said, will help meet demand in drought years when Truckee Meadows Water Authority is providing up to 119,000 acre-feet of water a year to customers. TMWA provides 85,000 acre-feet a year for 93,000 customers. In years when there's more than enough water, that water is managed for the fish. The plan already is in place and working under an interim agreement approved several years ago. Getting everyone to sign the deal has taken nearly 20 years. "I started working on this the night I was elected to the Senate," said Reid, D-Nev., of the plan and his 1986 election.
"It has been a real struggle," he said. In 1990, Reid got Congress to pass a settlement act that directed the U.S. Secretary of the Interior to negotiate an agreement for the river and its upstream reservoirs. He uses lists to talk about the obstacles in getting the agreement completed. "It involved two Indian tribes. Two endangered species. The cities of Reno and Sparks. Pyramid Lake. The Truckee and Carson Rivers. And Lake Tahoe.
The act also provides $65 million to the Pyramid Lake-Paiute tribe for economic development and to rebuild its fisheries, as well as $40 million for Fallon. The agreement required the homes served by TMWA to have meters, with the total conversion now set for January 2010.

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County, Minden discuss water

by Sheila Gardner, sgardner@recordcourier.com
January 2, 2008

Douglas County and Minden officials are to kick off the new year with a long-awaited meeting Wednesday to discuss water issues.

"We had requested this a long time ago," said Minden vice chairman Dave Sheets. "Then, it got delayed, the agenda wasn't what people wanted. We kept pushing and saying we have a lot of things that have a common interest that may be coming to a head at this point."

Minden recently hired a California law firm to represent the town's vast water holdings from a challenge by the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe which seeks to halt all water transfers.

"The majority of what I perceive this meeting to be is wrapped around water," Sheets said. "We're not going to say, 'We're hiring a law firm. Do you want to participate?'

"For me, it's to try to figure out, 'Do you, as a county, see this as a serious threat? Of paramount importance?' Or, 'this, too, shall pass.'"

Tribal lawyers argued Carson Valley's groundwater is "severely over-appropriated," and more groundwater use means less flow in the Carson River to Lake Lahontan.

...
Joint meeting between Town of Minden and Douglas County, 5 p.m., Wednesday, CVIC Hall, Esmeralda Avenue, Minden; 6:30 p.m., staff reports; 7 p.m. regular agenda including discussion of U.S. Postal Service process to procure new Minden post office site; bid review of sign at Jake's Wildlife and Wetland Meadow; discuss installation of calliope on 1937 La France Fire Truck for use at town events. Information, 782-5976.

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Minden hires California firm to battle water fight

by Sheila Gardner,
Record-Courier
December 21, 2007

Minden officials hired "the largest water law practice in the United States" on Wednesday to defend the town's vast water holdings from challenges by the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe.

Board members, meeting in special session, voted 4-0 to hire Hatch & Parent law corporation of Santa Barbara, Calif.

"If you make a decision tonight, we could be ready to go on one-day notice," senior counsel Michael A. Gheleta told the board. "It seems like your concern is legitimate. It's best to get in early rather than find out the case has left the station without you."

The board heard from five law firms Wednesday before selecting Hatch & Parent.

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Truckee water transfers ruling upheld

ASSOCIATED PRESS, posted on RGJ.com
12/11/07

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld most of the state engineer’s rulings in a case involving Truckee River water rights.

The Pyramid Paiute Tribe had appealed a U.S. District Court ruling in the case involving 10 different water rights holders in the Fernley area.
The issue in all 10 cases involved the owners’ rights to transfer their water rights to new owners or new parcels.
The tribe sought to block the transfers, arguing they were forfeited or abandoned for a variety of reasons including that the water involved had not been used on the land it was deeded to, in several of the cases, for more than 30 years. But the Nevada state engineer’s office rejected the tribe’s arguments.

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Truckee River Operating Agreement (TROA) - Draft

This draft of the Truckee River Operating Agreement (TROA) is the preferred alternative for analysis in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report to which it is an appendix. This Draft TROA is the result of negotiations among representatives of the United States Departments of the Interior and Justice, the State of California, the State of Nevada, the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe of Indians, Sierra Pacific Power Company, and other entities in the State of California and the State of Nevada. This Draft TROA represents agreement among its negotiators that it is a draft and it constitutes the preferred alternative for operating Truckee River Reservoirs in a manner which will carry out terms of Public Law No. 101-618, the Truckee-Carson-Pyramid Lake Water Rights Settlement Act (Settlement Act). Section 205(a)(9) of the Settlement Act requires that the Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior satisfy the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act in negotiating TROA. Although not a requirement of the Settlement Act, the State of California must comply with the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

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