On March 9, 2021, the Nevada Supreme Court created the Commission to Study the Adjudication of Water Law Cases. And on March 30, 2021, Chief Justice James W. Hardesty appointed the following individuals to the Commission.
- Chief Justice James W. Hardesty, Commission Chair Associate Chief Justice Ron Parraguirre, Supreme Court
- Micheline Fairbank, Nevada Division of Water Resources Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
- Jason King, Practicing Water Rights Engineer/Hydrologist Rick Felling, Practicing Water Rights Engineer/Hydrologist John Entsminger, Urban Municipal Water Purveyor
- John R. Zimmerman, Esq., Rural Municipal Water Purveyor Laura Schroeder, Esq., Rural Water Interests/Water District Bevan Lister, Agricultural
- Tom Baker, Agricultural
- Rusty Jardine, Esq., Irrigation Districts Bert Bryan, Irrigation Districts
- Ross de Lipkau, Esq., Mining Allen Biaggi, Mining
- Kyle Roerink, Environmental/NGOs        Â
- Karen Peterson, Esq., Practicing Water Rights Attorney/Rural Counties
- Oscar (Oz) Wichman, Rural Counties
- Christopher W. Mixson, Esq., Inter-Tribal Council of Nevada, Inc.
- Paul G. Taggart, Esq., Practicing Water Rights Attorney/Domestic Wells
- Gordon H. DePaoli, Esq., Practicing Water Law Attorney
- Judge Kathleen Drakulich, Washoe County
- Judge John P. Schlegelmilch, Lyon County
- Judge Gary Fairman, White Pine County Judge
- Elizabeth Gonzalez, Clark County
On April 16, Patrick Donnelly, Nevada State Director at the Center for Biological Diversity, pointed to the composition of the Commission as representing a broad swath of water interests.
“Particularly,” Donnelly said from the rural parts of the state. “But,” he continued, “if you look around the Zoom call, you will note that this Commission looks nothing like the people of the State of Nevada.
Donnelly said that “demographically, socioeconomically, geographically, this commission only represents a very small slice of Nevada in many other ways.”
Donnelly suggested the addition of an elected member of the legislature to the Commission. And he urged the Commission to determine the best path forward.
However, he also pointed out that the environmental community is underrepresented. He urged appointment to the Commission of individuals with environmental and litigation experience.
On October 1, Judge Hardesty invited Dr. Laurel Saito representing The Nature Conservancy, to join the Commission.
