Las Vegas Trifecta! 1) Zetland: Pat Mulroy is the 'George Bush of Water'; 2) Green: Utah Rolls Over; 3) Fleck: Upstream of Las Vegas

Since Las Vegas is always promoting specials to lure customers into their casinos I thought I would do the same, using three of the best waterbloggers around.

Today (14 August 2009) is Aguanomics maven David Zetland's 40th birthday but he is certainly not throwing caution to the wind.

His recent post on Pat Mulroy of the SNWA lays it all out and accuses her of causing the shortage in the Las Vegas area by keeping prices low, thereby encouraging unsustainable growth:

...My main point is that Mulroy is responsible for the "shortage" in Vegas. That's because she's responsible for cheap water in the area. Since cheap water has spurred demand, it has also drained Lake Mead. So if you want to blame someone for Mead drying out and a $ multi-billion pipeline, blame Mulroy.

Why didn't she raise prices and balance supply and demand in Vegas? Because she's pro-growth (developers), pro-engineering (the third straw into Lake Mead and pipeline will cost ratepayers a LOT), and pro-power.

If she raised prices 5 years ago, her job would have been boring. No headlines. Just quiet competence.

He continues:

In 5-10 years, we will look back at her scare tactics and all the damages from the pipeline and we will see how Pat Mulroy is the George Bush of water. She told us "trust me, there are WMDs shortages that will kill us the children!" even though there are none. We trusted him and we suffered. We should not trust her.

And there is even more on Mulroy and Las Vegas from Emily Green, who reports about the Snake Valley groundwater kerfuffle between Utah and Nevada:

Utah and Nevada today [13 August 2009] produced a draft agreement for the splitting of groundwater from the shared basin of Snake Valley.

Since making the single largest block of groundwater claims in Nevadan history in 1989, Southern Nevada Water Authority general manager Patricia Mulroy has been seeking Snake Valley groundwater, along with reserves from four other target basins, to feed a 300-mile-long pipeline proposed to tap the Great Basin Carbonate Aquifer.

Snake Valley is the second most water-rich valley in the Las Vegas pipeline plan.

She reports that Utah will concede 36,000 acre-feet per year to Nevada.

Read more from Emily. Here is the The Salt Lake Tribune's take on the matter.

And now here's John Fleck, on being upstream from Las Vegas.

My sense is that the SNWA Board will approve the pipeline plan, and the rest of Nevada will grudgingly go along, because like it or not, Las Vegas' gambling revenues keep state personal income taxes at a level Nevadans like - zero. 

"Pat Mulroy is not a water manager, she's a pro-growth, anti-sustainable megalomaniac eager to exploit fear to get what she wants -- not what's best for her customers." -- David Zetland

Comments

[megawatershed promoter]

I guess I was confused by DZ's assessment that *some people prefer that the water be used in situ.* This sounded like someone the DZ worked with had made an assessment of the *value* of *in-situ*. DZ is correct - but how can one see through his argument when he obfuscates his argument. I guess I am so surprised by DZ's passion with SV water. This concept has been discussed for 20 years at the same time the Mirage was being built and the LV community was certain he would fail. My mistake and apologies for misreading DZ passionate diatribe against Patricia Mulroy.

[Account Deleted]

@mega -- hahaha. Markets are NOT the same as politics, but you don't seem to see the difference. Is there any market in SV? No? Oh, well then it's all about politics and Mulroy's grandstanding.

(I am agnostic on where water ends up; you need to read more carefully. :)

[megawatershed promoter]

I guess I was confused by DZ's market-based approach to water that is widely promoted on Aguanomics. But I think I understand more fully now: if the market-based approach agrees with DZ's conceptual model of how a market works, then it is acceptable. If the political economy disagrees with DZ's preconceived notions on how the market should work, then it is unacceptable. My reading of his model for SV is that in-situ *values* of water trump other *values*, yet none of these values have been quantified or contrasted with other values.

[Account Deleted]

@Paul -- the difference between Mulroy and industry is that water is more of a political than an economic business (there's no market, competition, entry, etc.) Thus, the "character" of the person in charge matters. Is she doing well by those who depend on her? Not in my opinion. She has not been managing for sustainability and -- as I say in my original post -- she may be driving demand up to force her pet project.

As for "champions" to oppose her, I am willing to do that, but who is going to pay me to oppose unsustainable growth in Nevada? She's got the backing of developers and "city fathers" afraid of being blamed for drying out "paradise" :)

@mega -- some people prefer that the water be used in situ. Mulroy prefers to use it for HER projects, and she uses political (sometimes economic) tools to take it.

[megawatershed promoter]

Why not use the water? It has no *value* without use. It has *value* when it arrives in Las Vegas.

[PAUL F MILLER]

Pat Mulroy is not a water manager, she's a pro-growth, anti-sustainable megalomaniac eager to exploit fear to get what she wants -- not what's best for her customers." -- David Zetland ... READING THIS POST I FEEL IMPELLED TO COMMENT ...

I write to neither support nor find fault with any of the author's positions. I write simply to ask, if the positions Ms. Mulroy takes are not those which corporate America finds exemplary, ie she eagerly, without hesitation, actively, with passion, promotes and champions all those positions sanctioned by her superiors...?

For me while not making her a hero, it suggest many who find her actions despicable might secretly long to have someone of her caliber to champion their positions...?

Respectfully submitted,