Land deal worked into war bill

Benjamin Grove

Friday, April 4, 2003 | 10:54 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., negotiated to insert language aimed at settling a 12-year-old Henderson land dispute into the $80 billion war budget bill.

The measure directs the Bureau of Land Management to file a report within 60 days on what it plans to do with 983 acres of its public land that the Lake Las Vegas resort developer has been negotiating to obtain.

"Sen. Reid just wants this to come to a resolution," Reid spokeswoman Tessa Hafen said.

The land is part of a long-simmering deal between the developer, Transcontinental Development Corp., and the BLM to swap land, and several phases of the land swap have occurred. But problems with parcels the developer wanted to trade for the Lake Las Vegas property delayed the final swap, Nevada BLM spokeswoman Jo Simpson said. That led to an agreement that the BLM would just sell the property directly to the developer, Simpson said.

"This is something that has been in the works for almost a decade and, for the good of all parties involved, should be resolved soon and in good faith," Ensign said in a statement.

BLM officials said they are committed to a swift resolution to the land sale, but they want to ensure taxpayers get a fair deal for the property. An appraisal in 2000 valued the land at $11.9 million. The developer wants to buy at that price, but a new appraisal should be complete in the next few weeks, Simpson said. It's BLM policy that an appraisal must be complete within a year of a public land sale, Simpson said.

The dispute came to a head last month, when the developer sued the BLM's umbrella agency, the Interior Department, in federal court. The suit seeks to force the land sale, alleging the department violated procedures by delaying the deal.

The legislation has no price tag, so it didn't affect the cost of the budget bill for the war with Iraq, approved by the Senate Thursday night.

The Nevada senators slipped the land deal provision in the bill late Thursday. They decided the war bill was a good vehicle for the measure because it was certain to receive congressional approval soon, Hafen said.

The provision is not part of the House war budget bill and is subject to Senate-House negotiations next week.

House Resources Committee member Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., supports the land deal legislation, but he has been opposed to any language that wasn't war-related being tacked onto the budget bill. He supports the provision on the budget bill as long as it doesn't slow the broader bill's progress, spokeswoman Amy Spanbauer said.

The Associated Press

contributed to this report.