Senate opens debate on auxiliary LV airport

Tuesday, July 27, 1999 | 1:30 a.m.

Debate begins in Congress today on a proposed auxiliary airport 30 miles southwest of Las Vegas to relieve congestion at McCarran International Airport.

The testimony before a Senate subcommittee today is likely to pit Nevada's congressional delegation and county officials who argue that McCarran needs the relief against environmental groups who fear the effects of air and noise pollution on the desert.

The airport is proposed to be built in a dry lake bed in the Ivanpah Valley west of Jean and about 6 miles from the California state line. It would not open for at least 15 years.

It would have two runways, compared with McCarran's four, and would take charter passenger flights, international carriers and cargo to relieve traffic at McCarran, which would still support domestic airlines.

McCarran, which was built 50 years ago on what was undeveloped desert near Las Vegas, handles about 30 million passengers a year and operates at 60 percent of its capacity.

Sens. Richard Bryan and Harry Reid, both D-Nev., introduced a bill this session to secure the land for the airport after similar legislation was defeated in the House last year.

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., introduced a companion bill in the House this year and was scheduled to testify today in support of the airport before the Senate Subcommittee on Forests and Public Land Management.

Environmentalists, led by the Sierra Club, question the need for the airport unless environmental impacts are spelled out.

The airport could increase air pollution, noise and traffic along Interstate 15, Sierra Club Southern Nevada Director Deanna White said, adding to the increasing pollution problems in the Las Vegas Valley caused by rapid growth.

In addition, the National Parks and Conservation Association, a private advocacy group supporting public lands, has voiced concern about noise, air and light pollution from a future airport on the neighboring Mojave Desert Preserve.

The Bureau of Land Management also opposed the proposed airport last year because it would restrict multiple uses of the 6,650-acre parcel between Jean and Primm.

The proposed site now supports mining claims, grazing rights, utility corridors, three major power transmission lines, threatened Mojave Desert tortoise habitat, hiking trails and off-road vehicle routes, the BLM said.

Clark County had proposed a land exchange with the BLM for the site, but then offered to buy the parcel at fair market value, budgeting $10 million for the purchase. The land has not been appraised in 20 years.

The county considered and rejected potential sites for an airport near Pahrump, 55 miles west of Las Vegas, and near Mesquite, about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas.

The Ivanpah Valley land is near the interstate and a railroad route that may someday support a high-speed train, county planners said.

If the county is successful in buying the land, environmental studies would have to be conducted by the Federal Aviation Administration.