Bill offers $30 million for flood control

Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2001 | 9:13 a.m.

The Senate's energy and water appropriations bill includes $143 million for Nevada projects, including $30 million for continuing construction of flood control projects in two of the Las Vegas Valley's major washes.

The bill also funds up to $59.6 million for activities at the Nevada Test Site, the Department of Energy and the University and Community College System of Nevada, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the Senate's majority whip, said.

The flood protection package contains $22 million for new construction in the Flamingo and Tropicana washes and $8 million to reimburse the Clark County Regional Flood Control District for work it has completed.

"If approved, this would be the largest appropriation for flood control from the federal government in our history," Gale Fraser, director of the Regional Flood Control District, said. The district has existed since 1989.

For 2001 the flood control projects received $21.6 million, and in 2000 Congress approved $29 million.

The House version of the budget bill recommends $25 million for flood-proofing the two local washes. A committee from both congressional houses has to meet to reconcile the appropriations before the budget becomes final.

Among the energy appropriations in the bill is $10 million to fund a proposed national center for combating terrorism, Reid said. The Nevada Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, would host the center for training emergency responders.

"No other location in the country is better than the Nevada Test Site for this kind of training, and the funding in this bill will help get the center up and running immediately," Reid said.

In an effort to protect Nevada residents from the Department of Energy's plan to build a high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, the budget includes $2.5 million for the state to oversee technical studies and another $6 million for 10 local governments, including Clark County.

The rest of the $143 million coming to the state will be spread among energy and water projects in Northern Nevada.