Lincoln County rule changes concern environmentalists

Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2004 | 11:26 a.m.

Some of Southern Nevada's environmentalists are feeling under the gun and on the run.

The catalyst for most of their woes has been pressure of continued population growth and development in Southern Nevada. In particular, environmentalists are troubled by the Lincoln County Conservation, Recreation and Development Act signed into law last month by President Bush.

The act included at least three provisions that some environmentalists found unpleasant:

The BLM, which failed to attract bidders when it tried to sell the land in October 2001, had planned to sell the land in August but a lawsuit filed by a trio of environmental groups blocked the sale. The Western Land Exchange Project, the Committee for the High Desert and the Center for Biological Diversity argued that the BLM violated the National Environmental Policy Act by neglecting to analyze the cumulative impact of the potential development on the region, particularly noting potential problems with bringing water to the development.

The new Lincoln County act swept the legal challenge aside and required an immediate sale, now scheduled for Feb. 9.

Environmentalists are concerned that the wells could drain important habitat to the north.

Construction on the project is going forward now, Whittemore said.

Jeff van Ee, an activist with the Nevada Outdoor Recreation Association and one of Las Vegas' most visible environmentalists, cited the provisions of the Lincoln County act and other moves to develop now-empty areas as body blows to Nevada's fragile desert environment. Many of his concerns center on water.

"The environmental impacts of these land sales are not being fully evaluated, particularly with the availability of water," van Ee said. "We're reeling with all these proposals. I'm very disappointed that the Congress decided to grant permanent pipeline rights of way for the water projects."

He said Sen. John Ensign's proposal last week to divert $200 million from BLM land sales in Clark County to be used for taking out turf at public institutions was a bad idea. While Ensign's plan is to save enough water for hundreds of thousands of people through the move, van Ee said the original 1998 Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act put most of the sale money aside for protection of Nevada's environment.

"It's inappropriate and inconsistent with the goals of the (1998) act," he said. "It sets a bad precedent for us to be using the sale of public lands owned by everyone in the country to buy up lawns in people's backyards in Las Vegas."

Ensign's plan, however, would be directed at public agencies -- schools, federal, state and local agencies -- for turf removal.

"To me, it's the same," van Ee responded. "Rate payers should be paying to finance that program."

Van Ee also argues that the BLM and other federal agencies are not doing enough to consider the impacts of development when land is sold for development.

"There are a great many issues," he said. "All the development proposals in Southern Nevada -- the end result is more pressure on public lands, on the environment, on protected species. We don't think those pressures from all the development proposals are effectively being evaluated and mitigated."

He noted that some voices have suggested amending the Clark County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan, which trades habitat protection for 78 rare or endangered species, including the desert tortoise, for the county's ability to continue development.

Not everyone agrees with van Ee's gloomy assessment of the environmental state of Southern Nevada. Whittemore, for example, said his Coyote Springs development is working with federal, state and local agencies to provide protection to the desert tortoise.

Whittemore said people don't understand that he's not getting a special benefit from moving the utility corridor, that it was not needed and now he is paying to move it.

He said 5 percent of the water rights for the development also have been given to federal agencies for the preservation of the rare Moapa dace, a small fish dependent on springs south of Coyote Springs.

"There's no one else who's agreed to do that," Whittemore said.

The Lincoln County act, which received the unanimous support of all five members of Nevada's congressional delegation, also sets aside as permanently protected wilderness about 770,000 acres in Lincoln County, he noted.

Environmentalists shouldn't be upset with the Lincoln County act because it creates huge protected spaces inside the state, Whittemore said.

"They've got the ability to really do some extraordinary things for the state," he said.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority, which plans to tap groundwater resources in the state, has promised to avoid any significant negative environmental impacts from those plans.

Carl Zichella, a staff director for the Sierra Club's California, Hawaii and Nevada efforts, noted that his group did not support the bill despite the wilderness protections.

"We're very much opposed to pipeline and development issues," he said. "Water issues are so troubling in that bill and what they open up the door to in terms of growth."

The Sierra Club has sued the federal government to stop development in Southern Nevada, but this time, the group and others say their options are limited because the Lincoln County bill is the law.

"Litigation is an option where laws are being broken," Zichella said. "We're consulting with a lot of people are we're trying to figure out what the most responsible course to take is."

Zichella noted that Sen. Harry Reid, soon to become the Democratic minority leader, backed the Lincoln County act and is considered "a steady friend of the environment."

"This is a disappointment but we have to go on and Sen. Reid is influential," Zichella said. "We have tremendous loyalty to Sen. Reid and, by and large, he's been a great to us and we've been a great friend to him."

Susan Potts, a member of the local arm of the Sierra Club and Southern Nevada conservation director of Friends of Nevada Wilderness, said she understands the concerns about the Lincoln County bill. Although her group supported the wilderness designations, the group opposed the provisions that van Ee and allies find problematic.

"I think the Lincoln County bill was hard because there were so many things going on," she said.

Potts said the environmental movement has "a lot of work to do."

"We're sprawling outside of the edges of town and into the rural areas now," she said. "Some of that is happening without considering some of the issues, such as clean air and the lack of water.

"Part of that work is really educating people about what's out there and what's important. We need to all be doing a lot more public education and making people aware of how fragile and precious these lands are. So many people move out here and just think of the desert as barren wasteland."

Jane Feldman, chairwoman of the local Sierra Club's conservation committee, said protection of environmental assets is an ongoing challenge. She noted that the BLM sale of about 5,000 acres, mostly in North Las Vegas, could be blocked because an environmental assessment found rare plants and fossils on the land.

Issues such as those are "really going to affect the pacing and how the properties are offered for sale," Feldman said of the BLM plans.

She said Sens. Reid and Ensign have generally been careful to consider environmental policy, although she faulted the duo for the inclusion of the Mesquite sale in the Lincoln County act.

"That completely disregarded the court's finding" that blocked the sale, Feldman said.

Any effort to amend Clark County's habitat conservation plan would also require a full environmental impact study, Feldman said.

She said, though, that such challenges are not new, and the environmental movement has shouldered on despite setbacks.

"Environmentalists are very aware that there are always challenges," Feldman said. "Every day brings new challenges. Every day we have to get up and look forward to meeting those challenges."08

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