The new heartland

Thursday, July 24, 2008 | 2:06 a.m.

The images normally associated with America’s heartland are of cornfields and silos, smokestacks and Main Street parades, sandlot baseball and the corner five-and-dime. In that context one does not normally think of casinos, deserts, canyons or ski resorts.

Yet analysts at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, say we’d better prepare for the emergence of a new heartland, one composed of Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah.

As reported Sunday by Joe Schoenmann in the Las Vegas Sun, a new Brookings report said the five states share rapid growth combined with economic and demographic changes at levels not seen elsewhere in the country. They each have a “megapolitan” area such as Las Vegas that dominates the state’s population and economy.

Collectively, the five states are known as the southern Intermountain West and they are beginning to separate themselves from California’s considerable shadow. But they have major challenges, including water, transportation, economic and immigration issues, with no easy solutions.

That’s why we share Brookings’ view that the states will benefit by seeking help from the federal government to tackle regional problems that are too complex for the states to solve individually.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority, for example, could get a better handle on planning if the federal government were to perform more research on the effects global climate change could have on water supplies in this drought-stricken part of the country. Las Vegas could also benefit from federal investment in sorely needed projects such as intercity passenger rail and an interstate link connecting Southern Nevada to Phoenix.

As Brookings suggests, the federal government could also help the Intermountain region expand its energy transmission grid to keep up with growth and pursue effective reforms that help integrate immigrants into society through English language instruction and referral services.

There is no question the federal government will have to pay closer attention to the rapidly growing Intermountain West. The states, in turn, stand a better chance of drawing federal support if they show a willingness to work together to meet the region’s most pressing needs.