Reid-Ensign land bill could be blockbuster

Wednesday, May 30, 2001 | 10:33 a.m.

Thousands of acres in Clark County may serve as the stage for what could be a blockbuster of a land-use bill produced by Senators Harry Reid and John Ensign, congressional staffers say.

Staffers with both senators, who will unveil the proposal Thursday, kept the details of the joint proposal vague Tuesday, but they said the proposed legislation could affect thousands of acres in Clark County.

Reid, Democratic Whip, and Ensign, a Republican freshman in the Senate, "have received dozens of public lands requests this year alone," said Nathan Naylor, Reid press secretary.

The senators will propose a sweeping response to those requests against the backdrop of the Red Rock National Conservation Area, Naylor said.

Most land in Clark County is owned and managed by the federal government. Local and federal government officials said Tuesday that they don't know what will be in the senators' announcement, but predicted that it could affect land throughout the county.

Naylor said the senators' approach will avoid a "piecemeal approach" to federal land issues, emphasizing conservation, recreational needs and building a strong infrastructure for long-term needs in Southern Nevada.

He said two specific areas that will be addressed are land needs near the planned Ivanpah Valley Airport and the Interstate 15 corridor from Las Vegas to the California state line.

County planners and aviation department officials want more land -- and possibly a water line -- to support residential and commercial development in the Ivanpah Valley, 30 miles south of Las Vegas.

Some planners have quietly predicted a development boom in the coming years along the entire length of I-15 from the city to the state line.

New land-use legislation would be the third piece of federal law passed in the last four years. In 1998, the original Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act provided for the auctioning of 27,000 acres in the Las Vegas Valley for private development, with money going to environmental projects and other public uses.

The federal Bureau of Land Management also would give local governments and nonprofit organizations another 27,000 acres for public uses such as schools and libraries.

Both Reid and Ensign, then a Republican member of the House, backed the Public Lands Management Act.

Last year, another land use bill passed that requires the BLM to sell 6,500 acres of Ivanpah Valley land to the Clark County Department of Aviation for a secondary airport to McCarran International. Airport planners expect to buy the land for $13 million in about a year, with the airport actually opening around 2010.

Reid and former Democratic Sen. Richard Bryan backed the Ivanpah airport legislation.

Sari Mann, Nevada press secretary for Ensign, said the legislation to come Thursday would be a similar cooperative effort.

"This is a great opportunity for Sen. Ensign and Sen. Reid to work together for the benefit of Nevadans," she said.

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