The Great Basin Desert of eastern Nevada and western Utah is threatened by plans of the Southern Nevada Water Authority to drill over 200 wells in one of the driest regions of the United States and pipe the water 300 miles to Las Vegas. If permitted by the State of Nevada and the Bureau of Land Management, Las Vegas would pump up to 85 billion gallons of water each year from rural valleys adjacent to the Great Basin National Park and National Wildlife Refuges. The groundwater would be piped through a huge, buried pipeline network and supported above ground by hundreds of miles of power lines and roads. The groundwater exported from eastern Nevada\'s desert valleys by the Southern Nevada Water Authority would enable more sprawl development in the Las Vegas Area further impacting Las Vegas residents with congestion, pollution, and a poorer quality of life. Rural communities would be destroyed by the loss of water. Unique wildlife dependent on small streams, wetlands, and regional springs would be threatened or exterminated. Tens of thousands of acres of desert vegetation would be killed by the pumping. Las Vegas could save 40 billion gallons each year with conservation actions similar to those employed in Tucson and other desert cities says a report by the respected Pacific Institute. Water conservation and efficiency improvements are vastly less expensive and will preserve our rural landscapes and wildlife. We the undersigned ask decision makers with the Nevada State Engineer\'s Office and the Bureau of Land Management to not permit the Southern Nevada Water Authority to proceed with their destructive pump and export project.

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