Nye County Commissioner Peter Liakopoulos Monday asked for a report on how much money Nye County paid the husband and wife team of hydrologist Tom Buqo and environmental compliance specialist Mary Ellen Giampaoli over the last three years.

Buqo has been working for Nye County for 12 years, Giampaoli for eight. In addition to the Yucca Mountain oversight program, they provide expertise on other county projects.

A description of the annual renewal of contracts for the Nye County Yucca Mountain oversight program states Buqo has nearly 20 years of experience in the field of applied hydro-geology and is widely respected as a leading hydrologist in Southern Nevada.

Besides his work on the Yucca Mountain program, Buqo prepared the county water resources plan and predicts many Pahrump wells will have to be re-drilled by 2030 due to the steadily declining water table.

Giampaoli has a master of science degree in geology with nearly 20 years of regulatory compliance experience, the summary states. She has worn many hats, advising the county on dust control, the new landfill, the Brownfields clean up program, the county public lands bill, desert tortoise mitigation and other projects.

Both consultants often come back to the county a few times every year for amendments increasing the amounts of their contracts, thus adding to their scope of work.

Liakopoulos in particular wants to reconsider the $430,000 contract given Buqo in March for a turnkey operation to organize the Nye County Water District, which includes completing a Pahrump groundwater evaluation study.

That brought Buqo's total contracts approved by Nye County commissioners between March 20, 2007, and this past March 8 to $1.247 million, including the annual, $200,000 hydro-geologic oversight contract at Yucca Mountain, part of a package of contracts routinely approved by the commission.

A review by the Pahrump Valley Times of county commission agendas during that one-year period shows commissioners approved paying Giampaoli $318,000 for six different projects.

Liakopoulos, on a previous occasion, talked about possibly saving money by hiring a county employee to do some of the work of consultants. He also has voiced complaints about negotiations over the desert tortoise habitat conservation program Giampaoli worked on, which commissioners voted to scrap Tuesday.

Commissioner Joni Eastley said it wasn't necessary for the commissioners to approve Liakopoulos's request for the information, he could merely ask county staff for a report on the money spent on the consultants, who are based in Blue Diamond.

Eastley said a lot of the money for their projects comes from grants, which are largely funded from Yucca Mountain oversight money.

Giampaoli works on a couple of projects paid for by general fund money, but not the bulk of her work, Assistant County Manager Pam Webster said.

But former Pahrump Town Board member Paul Willis complained the county keeps shelling out money to consultants.

"None of them ever get finished but every time it comes to renewing their contract, it's at a critical juncture and it needs to be continued. To me this is kind of a perpetual motion thing," Willis said.

Webster said the county was given $225,000 in grants that would have to be returned if a desert tortoise habitat conservation plan wasn't approved, but said one grant was for a short-range plan that was rejected, the other for a long-term plan. She said the county has yet to spend about $40,000 of the grant money.

"Right now in Lincoln County they have spent ... $800,000 and they are nowhere near being done," Liakopoulos said.

Commissioner Butch Borasky said he's working on a new desert tortoise habitat conservation plan with help from some local people he wouldn't identify other than to say their initials were included in the name, the "BS&H" plan.

Eastley voted against terminating the latest plan.

"I prefer to fight battles I know I can win. I understand the Endangered Species Act. I completely know the habitat conservation plan, and I know Nye County is not in the driver's seat on this. Fish and Wildlife is," Eastley said.