Alan Halaly

1 week ago | reviewjournal.com | Alan Halaly

The Southern Nevada Water Authority’s head official is closely tracking how construction costs may snowball under the federal government’s tariff structure. John Entsminger, the water authority’s general manager, presented the agency’s proposed budget at a public meeting on Thursday, with that caveat about construction costs.

1 week ago | reviewjournal.com | Alan Halaly

It’s not just Nevadans’ imagination: Two cities in the Silver State are heating up faster than any other city in the nation, scientists have found. Climate Central, a nonpartisan group of climate scientists, has again put Reno and Las Vegas at the top of its list of cities that have warmed the most since 1970. Reno’s average annual temperature rose by 7.8 degrees and that of Las Vegas jumped by 5.9 degrees, according to the analysis.

1 week ago | reviewjournal.com | Alan Halaly

The seemingly sequestered, deep-blue swimming hole that the world’s rarest fish calls home isn’t immune to shifts in the tectonic plates. Luckily, scientists have been planning for years. Earthquakes — one in December and another in February — are part of the reason that National Park Service scientists recorded only 38 fish in their semiannual survey of Devils Hole pupfish, the agency said in a news release on Tuesday. Last spring, that number was much higher, at 191 fish.

1 week ago | reviewjournal.com | Alan Halaly

The country’s only fully operational lithium mine had an air pollution problem, Nevada regulators found. Until the state intervened and held a so-called “enforcement conference” on March 25, the Silver Peak lithium mine in Esmeralda County had been releasing more particulate matter into the air than its permits allowed, according to an enforcement letter obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The mine is about 40 miles northwest of Tonopah.

1 week ago | reviewjournal.com | Alan Halaly

Every year, when snow from the Rocky Mountains melts into water, it finds its way into Lake Powell, the country’s second-biggest reservoir. But with each passing season, less snowmelt becomes reservoir water that 40 million people can use to drink, plant crops or satiate their lawns. Runoff into Lake Powell has a direct tie to how much water can be sent downstream to Lake Mead, from which Southern Nevada sources roughly 90 percent of its water.