450 more gravel trucks to rumble

Jeff Schweers

Friday, June 6, 1997 | 5:47 a.m.

The federal Bureau of Land Management plans to auction off 22 million tons of Lone Mountain gravel next week without notifying northwest valley residents or the area governments that represent them.

Current gravel operations on Lone Mountain generate about 1,200 trucks a day driving through neighborhoods along Alexander Road and Tenaya Way. The gravel sale will add 450 trucks a day for 10 years, according to Jim Veltman, a city consultant who developed the northwest master plan.

BLM will open bids at its Las Vegas field office on Thursday for four separate lots from a 5,000-acre community pit at Lone Mountain, where several existing mines and batch plants already operate.

"What they have done is covered an enormously large area with the idea they can just about do anything," Veltman said. "Our main concern is there's no new environmental impact statement, there has really been no notice, and this is the second-largest sale of gravel in BLM history."

County Commissioner Lance Malone said he opposes the sale because his constituents already have to endure a constant stream of gravel trucks from existing mining operations.

"We have to get as many citizens involved to say we don't want it," Malone said. "It's too big an operation, and we don't want that many trucks running through the northwest."

BLM District Manager Michael Dwyer failed to return several calls.

Compounding the aggravation for northwest residents is the five-month delay of a $1.17 million alternative gravel route the county promised to have finished three months ago. The new haul route won't be ready until August, said Bobby Shelton, spokesman for the county's Public Works Department.

Not only are there health concerns from increased dust and truck traffic, but the gravel sale could wreak havoc on long-range planning for the area, as well as plans for a public park in the Lone Mountain area and the beltway alignment.

Malone said the BLM is being irresponsible by not notifying the people who have to live with the consequences of the gravel sale.

"I have to deal with my constituents, and the BLM doesn't have any responsiblity at all," Malone said. "We have enough batch plants in the northwest, the county should be able to say no. These trucks run on our roads, and the BLM takes all the profit."

The minimum bid is 55 cents a ton, which means the BLM will make at least $12 million off the sale.

A federal land management bill introduced by Rep. John Ensign, R-Nev., is supposed to change that, Malone said. The bill, HR449, would require the BLM to notify local governments of land or mineral sales, give the local entity some say in the decision and ensure that a portion of the profits from the transaction go to local infrastructure needs.

"The problem I have with the BLM is they have not contacted local governments," Malone said Thursday. "That's why the Nevada Land Management Act is so important."

Veltman said he would not have known about the gravel sale if a former BLM mineral rights expert now working as a mineral consultant hadn't seen the notice and called.

"When it comes out of the blue and kind of blindsides you, I take that as a warning that what is happening is not being done right," Veltman said. "What are they trying to pull over on us?

"I'm surprised they don't have any input for the public, after we worked so hard to get this area's quality of life on an improvement path. We've had a lot of citizen input, but when it comes to the BLM, we've had no input whatsoever."