Senators offer wide-ranging plans for land

Friday, June 1, 2001 | 11:04 a.m.

They came to bring a little something for everyone -- land for development, more land for utilities and yet more land for environmental protection.

Senators Harry Reid and John Ensign, one-half of Nevada's congressional delegation, on Thursday also warned that everyone is going to have to give a little to realize new legislation that would turn over federal land to local interests.

The two spoke on a rocky hilltop at the western end of Summerlin Parkway, near the Red Rock National Conservation Area. The setting was designed to emphasize the environmental aspects of their would-be bill.

Reid, a Democrat and soon-to-be majority whip, and Ensign, freshman Republican and former House member, did not come bearing specifics of the legislation. Instead, they kicked off a process that they hope will lead to a broad consensus for future development and protection of federal land in Southern Nevada.

That process will include developers, local governments, federal agencies and environmentalists, the senators promised.

The legislation will be the first major revision to 1998's Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act, the law that set a boundary of federal land to contain development in the Las Vegas Valley.

Development pressure is poking holes in the ring around the valley created by the 1998 law, Reid said.

"Now the ring is just going to have to be bigger ... . Things are going to change. There's a lot of people here."

Reid and Ensign sketched out some of the key components.

* Reid said land must be provided for development of new power plants to ease electricity shortages in the West, and to provide the utility easements necessary to get that power delivered.

Reid and Ensign said fears that a flood of new power plants in Nevada is a gift to power wholesalers selling electricity to California are misplaced. Those plants in Nevada will dedicate a piece of their generating capacity to their home state, providing Nevada with enough electricity to supply its needs, he said.

* The senators suggested more land is needed for development near the planned Ivanpah Valley Airport, a 6,500-acre tract along Interstate 15 near the California state line.

Clark County planners are hoping to have land to put residential and light commercial development near the airport. Already, land set aside for development around the airport would be off limits to residential use because it is inside the heavy noise boundary from jets.

That means that the county will have to find more land for the estimated 9,000 workers who will one day work at the airport, which the county aviation department wants to open in 2010.

Reid said the federal bill also will have to provide a way for a water line or other mechanism to bring water to the Ivanpah area.

* Along with opening up more land near the planned airport, the senators said land on the entire I-15 corridor could be home to some residential and commercial development.

Such a scenario was one of the reasons environmentalists opposed the Ivanpah airport before that authorizing legislation passed last year. But Reid said fears of sprawling casino-heavy development for the 40 miles to California are misplaced.

He said environmental concerns have to be addressed before development can go forward, he said.

"There's tremendous interest in that I-15 corridor," Reid said. "We have to be very careful how that happens."

He predicted there would be limited demand for large residential and commercial property along the highway.

Mark Morse, BLM field manager for Southern Nevada, said the agency has not identified its land along the interstate for transfer, but the agency will accept any policy direction it receives from Washington, D.C.

* Staff for the senators said one parcel that could be affected by the final bill package is now owned by the Howard Hughes Corp., one of the country's largest real-estate developers.

Hughes owns land on the western border of Summerlin that is environmentally sensitive and unsuitable for development, Tom Warden, company vice president for community relations, said.

The property is adjacent to the Red Rock National Conservation Area. Warden said the one option would be to swap that land for land on Summerlin's south edge.

He said fewer than 1,000 acres would be involved in a land exchange.

Ensign said some land exchanges are likely in the final package, but the preferred method of opening federal land for development would be through the auction process.

Federal auctions were authorized inside the valley by the 1998 land act. Under the terms of the law, proceeds from those auctions go back to the state. Sales have provided millions for environmental purposes and schools throughout Nevada.

BLM officials said they would like to continue the auctions for any new lands to go to the private sector.

Ensign said he'd like to see a final package came out of the drafting process by early this fall, giving plenty of time for Nevada's congressional delegation to pass the bill in this Congress, which wraps up in December 2003.