By Brian Maffly | Salt Lake City Tribune
Utah water officers will have to wade through a mess of federal businesses to safe allows for the proposed Lake Powell pipeline, doubtlessly surroundings again popularity of the debatable venture.
Even although the pipeline’s entire purpose is shifting 86,000 acre-feet of water to rising Washington and Kane counties, proponents sought after allowing to be treated basically via the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC.
But on Thursday, the fee dominated that it has jurisdiction only on the hydropower stations alongside the pipeline’s downhill run and comparable transmission amenities. This ruling will usher in larger oversight from 3 federal land businesses — the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Reclamation and the National Park Service.
The pipeline’s critics characterized the verdict as a “major blow” for the venture.
