Bryan touts bill on Black Rock at hearing

Thursday, April 27, 2000 | 10:55 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Congress should protect 690,000 acres of federal land in the Black Rock Desert in Northern Nevada by designating it a national conservation area, Sen. Richard Bryan told a Senate subcommittee Wednesday in the first hearing held on the issue.

Bryan, D-Nev., introduced the bill that would protect the land now managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Bryan seeks to preserve emigrant trails and surrounding land in the desert and High Rock Canyon. The retiring senator has made the Black Rock legislation a priority before he leaves Congress at the end of the year.

"The emigrant trails and the still relatively untouched landscapes of the Black Rock Desert and High Rock Canyon are a unique part of our nation's heritage and truly one of its finest natural wonders that need to be protected," Bryan said in a statement.

Existing grazing, off-road vehicle use and mining would be allowed to continue, but new mining claims and geothermal power plants would not be allowed under conservation area protection.

Bryan faces opposition from some ranchers who say the bill will limit their grazing rights.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., also voiced an objection to the bill. He wants to leave the door open to geothermal projects, which use heat from the earth to produce power. Reid backs a Department of Energy program, "Geopowering the West," which aims to provide energy to 10 percent of homes in Western states through geothermal sources.

"I am supportive of the spirit of Sen. Bryan's proposed legislation ... but I also think we need to think carefully about the amount of public land where geothermal energy development would be prohibited under this bill," Reid said.