Land purchase wouldn't fully protect Laramie's water supply

The director of Wyoming's Water Development Commission says a proposed state purchase of 11,000
acres east of Laramie wouldn't fully protect the city's drinking water supply.
Director Mike Purcell also says normal residential development on the parcel probably wouldn't significantly pollute the city's groundwater.   Sen. Phil Nicholas, a Laramie Republican who chairs the Senate
Appropriations Committee, is pushing state acquisition of the land to prevent development and protect the aquifer. Former state Rep. Doug Samuelson, a friend and law client of Nicholas', owns the
land.
     Nicholas says he won't profit from the acquisition and doesn't have a conflict. He says he won't vote in his committee for the acquisition in the legislative session that starts next week, but would vote for the final budget bill.