Assembly snubs Guinn, puts limit on Nellis withdrawal

Tuesday, Feb. 23, 1999 | 10:41 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The Assembly on Monday urged Congress to allow the Air Force to use the 3 million-acre Nellis Air Force Base bombing range for an additional 15 years and not lock up the land permanently as proposed by Gov. Kenny Guinn.

The setback didn't faze Guinn officials.

"If this is the biggest nick we take in this session, I think we are all right," said Guinn's chief of staff, Pete Ernaut, after the 40-10 vote. The measure, Assembly Joint Resolution 1, goes to the Republican-controlled Senate, where Guinn has a better chance of stopping or modifying it.

The land, which includes Yucca Mountain, where the Department of Energy wants to build a high-level nuclear waste dump, is used for bombing practice and aerial maneuvers for not only the Air Force but for training of foreign pilots.

It would be "shortsighted and foolhardy," said Assemblyman Doug Bache, D-Las Vegas, who sponsored the resolution, to allow the Air Force to have the land forever.

"It is crystal clear that a vote against this resolution is a vote to establish the nuclear waste dump," Bache said.

Assemblywoman Kathy Von Tobel, R-Las Vegas, argued that the resolution "sends the wrong message." She said business owners have government contracts with the Air Force, and to limit the extension to 15 years doesn't give business people time for planning.

"Our economy strongly depends on it," she said.

Assemblywoman Dawn Gibbons, R-Reno, wife of Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., would have preferred a 25- to 40-year extension for the bombing range. But she said, "Congress supports Nellis and it will work to preserve jobs."

The limitation, she added, "sends a message to the federal government. I just don't trust those pencil-neck geeks."

Congress allowed the Air Force to withdraw the land in 1986 for 15 years, with an extension approval in 2001. The Air Force would like a 25-year or an indefinite extension. Guinn favors making it permanent.

The 3 million acres does not include Nellis Air Force Base itself.

The resolution says the range "has contributed significantly to the economy of this state," but "the operations and activities conducted on the range must be monitored and reviewed periodically to determine whether those operations and activities are necessary" and to assess the damage to the land.

"Fifteen years is only a blink of the eye," said Assemblyman John Carpenter, R-Elko. The nation asks the military to "protect the hot spots of the world," he said. "We need to support our troops."

The state also needs oversight of the land, Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, said. "Let's not wave the white flag of surrender to the military."

The resolution asks that some of the lands be released for mining. Assemblyman Roy Neighbors, D-Tonopah, said there is a highly mineralized area about 10 miles north of Beatty that should be cut loose from Air Force control. It covers about 50,000 acres and has never been drilled.

"The governor's stand is very clear," Ernaut said Monday after the vote. "It's a matter of national security, and it's a vital part of the Clark County economy.

"For all the activists who want the land back, it's a bombing range," Ernaut said. He added the Navy at its bombing ranges finds 40 percent of the bombs that are dropped are not exploded.

"It would take a little bit of cleanup before that was remotely plausible as a recreation area," he said.