Federal land sales to pump another $100 million into area

Sito Negron

Friday, Oct. 29, 2004 | 9:26 a.m.

More than $100 million gathered from the sale of federal lands in Southern Nevada will go to local entites to be used for a series of projects announced by Interior Secretary Gail Norton Thursday.

When she tallied the total -- $108,935,000 -- Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev. joked, "Can you round that up a little?"

"It sounds like you're trying to round that up to $800 million," replied Norton, referring to the cost of a wish list officials gathered at the ceremony had mentioned.

The money coming to the county stems from the 1998 Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act, which diverts some of the proceeds of the sales from federal coffers to local governments.

The money must go to conservation and recreation, the Southern Nevada Water Authority, and the state's public schools.

Prior to Thursday's announcement, the sales had generated more than $694 million, with $493 million of that announced in August. Most of the money -- 85 percent -- goes to conservation and recreation, while 5 percent is allocated to the state's school trust fund and 10 percent to the Water Authority.

Norton called the arrangement a model for the rest of the nation.

"This is one of the best examples of innovative solutions for conservation," Norton said.

Developers, however, have criticized the federal government for the amount of land in the valley controlled by the Bureau of Land Management and are seeking more land sales faster.

The land has gone up in value with each sale. The next round of sales is scheduled for February.