Mining companies are buying up ranches left and right, just to get the water rights. Then all they have to do is get a permit to change the use from irrigation to mining. Once appropriated, the water rights are not available for any other development, even if the mine never opens, unless the mine is willing to sell the water rights.
Continue reading about Is a mining company giving the shaft to farmers and ranchers?
Springs and streams in northern Nevada are drying up. Surface water is contaminated with arsenic and other heavy metals, and groundwater is contaminated when water is re-injected into the aquifer, leaving less water for wildlife and other uses. Meanwhile, the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management is rounding up our wild horses with a vengeance because there’s “not enough water for them to drink.