Suit prompts BLM to delay auction

Tuesday, May 14, 2002 | 9:31 a.m.

The Bureau of Land Management has put a property auction scheduled for today on hold indefinitely because of a lawsuit filed by an environmental activist.

The BLM announced Monday afternoon that this morning's auction of 216 acres would be rescheduled because of an injunction requested by Robert Hall, president of the Nevada Environmental Association.

Hall has targeted federal, state and local governments with numerous lawsuits over land use, air quality and water treatment issues.

The federal government voluntarily asked to postpone the sale to provide time to resolve the legal issues. Stephen Macfarlane, an attorney for the U.S. Justice Department's environmental and natural resources division, said in a letter to the U.S. District Court in Las Vegas that the sale might go ahead in June or July.

But BLM State Director Bob Abbey said the sale would happen when the issues were resolved.

"We hope the court will resolve the issue quickly," he said. "Our goal is to resolve this issue and offer these lands for sale as soon as possible."

Hall said Monday that his lawsuit has been in the courts for several years. He is arguing that the sales authorized by the 1998 Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act have to go through a collective environmental review for overall impact.

"It's a major federal action," he said.

The 1998 act instructs the BLM to sell 25,000 acres in the Las Vegas Valley and to turn over the same amount to local governments and nonprofit agencies. Money from the land sales goes to buy and protect environmentally sensitive or recreational lands in the state.

Some money also goes to Nevada schools and the Southern Nevada Water Authority. Six sales so far have auctioned almost 2,600 acres and raised nearly $125 million.

Hall said title to the land, which some developers have already put buildings on, is unclear.

"I believe there is a cloudy title on every piece of land that they have disposed of," he said.

BLM officials declined to comment on Hall's argument because of the continuing litigation. Macfarland downplayed the eventual impact of the lawsuit, but added that briefs to be filed in the coming weeks would argue the case.

Among the 40 parcels that were to be auctioned today was a 30-acre plot in the valley's northwest with a minimum required bid of $4 million.