Compromise may be near on public lands bill

Thursday, Sept. 12, 2002 | 11:09 a.m.

Harry Reid and Rep. Jim Gibbons are nearing a compromise on a contested public lands bill that would set aside thousands of acres as protected federal wilderness in Clark County, the congressman's staff said Wednesday.

Reid, Democratic majority whip, and Gibbons, a House Republican, offered differing versions of bills that would designate 444,000 acres as wilderness, making it off-limits to motorized vehicles. Both versions also would release more than 183,000 acres of land for other purposes, including potential development.

But the bills conflict in three areas: Provisions in the Gibbons bill would give the state control of water rights on the federal land, would release about 3,000 acres for potential residential development near Jean and would "hard release" the land that does not receive a wilderness designation. A hard release means it could not in the future be considered for inclusion as wilderness, the highest level of federal protection.

Amy Spanbauer, Gibbons' spokeswoman, said her boss is willing to drop the hard-release provision.

"The congressman understands the need for compromise," Spanbauer said. "In the spirit of compromise, we've notified Sen. Reid's office that we are willing to take out of our bill the hard-release language."

But the provisions related to Jean and the water rights are still on the table, she said. Gibbons is apparently set on the water-rights issue.

Tessa Hafen, Reid's spokeswoman, said that issue has not been resolved.

"We're very, very close to a final agreement, but we're waiting for all members to sign off on a final agreement," she said. The water issue "is not something we've reached agreement on yet."

Reid wants the support of environmentalists on the bill, which has been about two years in development. Environmental groups, which had asked for much more land to be included as wilderness, had been lukewarm but essentially supportive of the Reid bill, which was co-sponsored by Sen. John Ensign, Reid's Republican counterpart.

Environmental movement leaders said the water issue could kill their support for the ultimate legislation.

"It's a deal-breaker as far as the Sierra Club is concerned and as far as the wilderness community is concerned in Nevada," Sierra Club conservation organizer Carrie Sandstedt said.

Both activists said the water-rights issue might not be that critical for Southern Nevada, where the mountains and deserts targeted for wilderness protection have little water anyway.

Jeremy Garncarz, an activist with the Friends of the Nevada Wilderness, said the bill could set a precedent for state control of water rights in other parts of the state that could ultimately hurt the environment.

"This would be something that would jeopardize wilderness protection for Nevada and throughout the country," Sandstedt said.

-- In other action, the House Resources Committee today approved separate legislation introduced by Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., that would increase the 195,000-acre Red Rock Canyon national conservation area by 1,071 acres along its eastern edge.

The land is now owned by the Howard Hughes Corp. The company would swap the land for about 998 acres of Bureau of Land Management land that would allow Hughes to expand its Summerlin master-planned community to the south.

The legislation also includes a provision that would convey 1,250 acres of federal Bureau of Land Management land to Clark County for a county park. That land is adjacent to the 998 acres that would go to Hughes.

The legislation next goes to the full House. In the Senate, the Red Rock land swap legislation is wrapped into the broader Clark County lands bill.

Sun reporter Benjamin Grove

contributed to this story.