Editorial: BLM should have land near Nellis

Monday, March 18, 2002 | 9:01 a.m.

Former Sen. Howard Cannon, who died March 6, helped secure federal funding and support for Nellis Air Force Base during the 1960s and '70s. The Nevadan fended off efforts to close the base, and today Nellis is instrumental in training pilots for their service around the world as America honors old commitments and wages its new war on terrorism. During the past decade it has been urban growth -- not budget cutters in the Pentagon or Congress -- that could prevent Nellis from carrying out its missions.

In the mid-1990s, Nellis officials actually talked about closing the base unless local government planners halted the subdivisions fast approaching the base's southern perimeter. Agreements were reached and Nellis remains a good neighbor. But growth pressures remain, with immediate pressure coming from 417 acres, undeveloped but privately owned, just beyond a base runway. Congress last year set aside $19 million for the Bureau of Land Management to buy the land, and more money may be appropriated this year. To keep the base free of any problems that might arise in the future if private land was so close to armed military jets landing and taking off, it will be money well spent.