ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEWS LYMAN MCCONNELL Ë Ë Ë Ë Ë Ë STATUS OF INTERVIEW: OPEN FOR RESEARCH Ë Ë Ë Ë Ë Ë Interview Conducted and Edited by: Donald B. Seney in 1994, 1995 California State University-Sacramento For the Bureau of Reclamation's Newlands Project Oral History Series Ë Ë Ë Ë Ë Ë Interview desktop published–2018 Oral History Program Bureau of Reclamation Denver, Colorado SUGGESTED CITATION: MCCONNELL, LYMAN. ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEWS. Transcript of tape- recorded Bureau of Reclamation Oral History Interview conducted by Donald B. Seney. Edited by Donald B. Seney and desktop published by Andrew H. Gahan, Historian, Bureau of Reclamation. Repository for the record copy of the interview transcript is the National Archives and Records Administration in College Park, Maryland. Record copies of this transcript are printed on 20 lb., 100% cotton, archival quality paper. All other copies are printed on normal duplicating paper. i Table of Contents Table of Contents.. i Statement of Donation. iii Editorial Convention. v Introduction. vi Oral History Interviews. 1 Early Life. 1 First Impressions of Fallon. 4 Working for Judge Smart.. 5 Moving to Fallon. 6 Adjusting to a Small Community. 8 Legal Issues in a Small Town. 10 Issues in Managing the Water District.. 12 Water District Manager Tenures. 13 Background of Irrigation District's Legal Issues. 15 Early Controversies and Issues with the Project Manager.. 21 Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribes Legal Actions. 23 Supreme Court Ruling did not Settle Issues. 24 Confusion Surrounding the 1973 OCAP. 26 Internal Struggles within the TCID Board. 27 Becoming TCID Project Manager. 28 Government's Obligation to Water Users. 30 Importance of Legal Advice on District Matters. 31 Learning the District Manager Job.. 32 District Employee Union. 32 New Position's Impact on the Family.. 34 Working with the Board.. 35 Changes within the Community.. 36 TCID's Relationship with Local Governments. 37 Preparing for the Upcoming Negotiations. 38 Creating a Broader Community Organization. 39 District's View on P.L. 101-618.. 41 Attempts to Kill the Bill.. 43 Community Protests over P.L. 101-618.. 44 Reid's Attempt to Change the Make-Up of the Board. 45 Trying to Develop an OCAP, 1984-1990. 47 Water Diversions Based on '88 OCAP. 49 Reclamation's OCAP Office. 50 Meeting OCAP Efficiencies.. 52 Improving Project Efficiencies. 55 Relationship with Reclamation Getting Worse. 57 Newlands Project Series– Oral History of Lyman McConnell ii Controversy Over Sending Water to the Fallon-Paiute-Shoshone Indians. 59 Water Allocations to the Fallon Tribe. 63 Bench/Bottom Lands Issue. 66 Issues are Becoming Technically Difficult. 67 Concerted Effort to Change Water Allocations. 68 Need for Community Consensus. 70 Lahontan Valley Environmental Alliance. 73 Hearings in Reno. 73 Hearings in Washington, D.C.. 77 Need for a Mediator to the Upcoming Negotiations. 78 Working Out Community Problems. 79 TCID Should Not Take the Lead in Negotiations. 79 Myth of TCID Walking Out of the 1988 Negotiations. 80 Problem is They Want Our Water. 81 Establishing a Negotiating Team. 82 Water Users' Concerns over the Make Up of the Negotiating Team.. 83 Community's Negotiation Group Meetings. 85 Issued that Unified the Community. 85 Impressions on the Negotiations. 87 Negotiation Participants.. 89 Positive Outlook Toward the Negotiations. 89 Looking for Money to Build an M&I System. 90 Government Would Not Give Up Litigation. 91 Abandonment and Forfeiture Issue. 93 Sierra Pacific Power Company. 94 Upper Carson River Interests.. 96 Environmental Interests. 97 Water Quality Issues. 99 Clean Water Act.. 101 New Administration in Reclamation's Lahontan Basin Area Office. 102 Disappointment Over the Settlement II Negotiations. 104 Negotiations Still Going On.. 105 Bureau of Reclamation History Program iii Statement of Donation Newlands Project Series– Oral History of Lyman McConnell iv Bureau of Reclamation History Program v Editorial Convention A note on editorial conventions. In the text of these interviews, information in parentheses, ( ), is actually on the tape. Information in brackets, [ ], has been added to the tape either by the editor to clarify meaning or at the request of the interviewee in order to correct, enlarge, or clarify the interview as it was originally spoken. Words have sometimes been struck out by editor or interviewee in order to clarify.