Battle over Nevada’s federal land sales is about to begin

Benjamin Grove

Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2005 | 11:09 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- No lawmaker has stepped forward -- yet -- to champion President Bush's proposal to slash Clark County's profit from federal land sales.

But the high-stakes battle that pits Nevada lawmakers against the White House -- with hundreds of millions of dollars at stake -- has entered its early phases on Capitol Hill.

The proposal, unveiled as part of the $2.57 trillion budget Bush sent to Congress Feb. 7, drew the ire of Nevada's five lawmakers. They are now lobbying their colleagues to kill the proposal.

Meanwhile the Interior Department is gearing up to draft the legislation required to make Bush's proposal a reality. It's not clear exactly when the bill would be ready for introduction, Interior spokesman John Wright said.

"It's a work in progress," he said.

Departments with controversial budget proposals often draft legislation in cooperation with a lawmaker or lawmakers who are willing to carry the bill through the legislative process. Wright declined to comment on who might be willing to sponsor the bill or on how the department plans to sell it to lawmakers.

White House Office of Management and Budget spokesman Chad Kolton also declined to comment on the Bush administration's lobbying strategy.

At issue is profit from public land auctions under the 1998 Southern Nevada Lands Management Act, which designed a plan to sell federal land in Clark County, with proceeds to remain in Nevada.

Under the law, 5 percent of the money is funneled to Nevada school accounts; 10 percent is used for water projects; and 85 percent is deposited into an account for wildlife and land conservation programs.

The profit has been far better than expected, and White House budget officials took note of that as they scoured federal expenditures looking for cost savings.

Officials originally estimated that the land sales would generate about $70 million per year, but receipts could be 17 times that in 2005 alone, according to White House estimates. Bush budget officials argue that some share of the federal land sale profit belongs to federal taxpayers.

Bush proposed cutting the special Nevada account share of 85 percent to 15 percent. He proposed diverting 70 percent of total profit to the federal treasury to offset the deficit.

The bill likely would land in the House and Senate committees that deal with natural resource issues. Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., is among the top-ranking members on the House Resources panel, and none of his colleagues have rushed forward to advocate the proposal, spokeswoman Amy Spanbauer said.

Gibbons is pressuring key allies on three committees -- Resources, Budget, and Appropriations -- to make sure the bill "never makes it to the House floor," Spanbauer said.

If lawmakers are taking an interest in the bill, they are mum so far, Nevada congressional aides said.

House Resources Chairman Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., declined comment, spokeswoman Jennifer Zuccarelli said.

"The committee is still looking into it, but there is no official position or comment on it," Zuccarelli said.

Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., the top-ranking Democrat on the House Resources panel, declined to comment through his spokeswoman Kristen Bossi. She said she was not aware of any Democratic members who had an interest in pushing the proposal.

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, declined comment through spokeswoman Marnie Funk.

Gibbons and Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., sent a Feb. 11 letter to Joshua Bolten, director of the White House Office and Management and Budget, asking him to back off the proposal. The money from the land sales is "critical compensation for the federal government's control over our land," the lawmakers wrote in the letter.

"These funds were raised by Nevadans for Nevada land and should remain in Nevada," Gibbons and Porter wrote. Adopting Bush's proposal would hurt the state and contradict "congressional intent" of the legislation, they wrote.

Bolten had not responded as of Friday.

However, in response to questions about Gibbons' and Porter's February letter, White House budget office spokesman Kolton said Bolten believes that under the Bush proposal Nevada would still reap a profit beyond the state's expectations.