Senate bills would benefit Nevada

Monday, July 22, 2002 | 9:37 a.m.

Nellis Air Force Base and the Nevada Test Site were big winners in the inclusion of $88 million for Nevada in Senate spending bills.

The Senate last week passed nearly $53 million for Nevada military facilities on Friday, part of the Military Construction Appropriations Bill. Both Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., voted for the legislation.

Another $35 million tucked into the national spending bill for the Commerce, Justice and State departments by the Senate Appropriations Committee Thursday night would expand counter-terrorism training at the Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Reid is a member of the Appropriations Committee.

The counter-terrorism training package would allow emergency crews, intelligence officers, the military and other agencies engaged in combating and responding to terrorism to take special training at the Test Site's center. Reid has been working to establish a National Center for Combating Terrorism at the Test Site.

Reid will be a member of the conference committee appointed to iron out differences between Senate and House versions of the budget bills later this year.

Nellis Air Force Base is in line to get $49 million of the money earmarked for military construction in Nevada. The base, which faces urban development nearby, would get $19.5 million to purchase 220 acres of private land near the northern end of the runway.

Another $15 million would buy replacement lands for the National Wildlife Refuge System at Nellis under the Military Land Withdrawal Act of 1999.

An explosive ordnance disposal facility at Nellis would get $6.9 million. The new unit will replace a substandard and undersized facility.

A proposed 144-room dormitory at Nellis received $4.75 million.

To maintain F-22s fighter aircraft, a munitions maintenance facility costing $3.17 million is also in the Nellis budget.

The Las Vegas Armory is expected to use $850,000 for planning and designing an Army National Guard Readiness Center in Las Vegas. The new units include an engineering department, signal company and transportation company.

Fallon Naval Air Station in Northern Nevada received $1.5 million for building a joint test and evaluation facility for unmanned aerial vehicles.