Land bill’s death mourned in LV

Monday, Oct. 7, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Southern Nevada environmentalists are disappointed a public lands exchange bill died in Congress last week, but they are holding out hope the bill will be addressed next year.

"I'm certainly disappointed it didn't pass," said Jeff van Ee, an environmental activist. "It would have cleared up a lot of problems with the land-exchange process."

The bill would have revamped the way private developers exchange land with the federal government. Developers who need land in urban areas swap pristine areas elsewhere in the state, but Rep. John Ensign, R-Nev., complained the process has cheated taxpayers by as much as $12 million. He and Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., introduced legislation to require land to be auctioned.

The bill also called for the sale of about 20,000 acres of federal land in Southern Nevada for development.

But the portion of the bill affecting Nevada was removed last week from a package of national lands legislation after Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., objected to a provision allowing Utah to receive proceeds for desert tortoise habitat.

Ensign accused Reid of blocking the bill to hurt his re-election campaign. Ensign is facing state Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, in the Nov. 5 general election.

Although Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah, agreed to remove the language providing money for Utah, Reid said he found out about it too late to change his vote.

Environmentalists like the bill in part because it would have helped establish trails and parks in the Las Vegas Valley, van Ee said.

Rick Nielsen, executive director of the environmental group Citizen Alert, said future legislation should preserve public lands for recreational use.

"I hope it will be revisited with more consideration of what the land use will be," he said.