Leaders hopeful forum will spur action

By Melissa Arseniuk

Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2008 | 1:50 a.m.

Since the Brookings Institution released its “Mountain Megas” report in July, there has been a lot of talk. Elected officials have responded, industry leaders have voiced their thoughts and the media have covered the details.

But all the talk has yet to result in much action.

That may soon change, however, following a meeting of about 150 leaders who came together Tuesday to further confer about the study with its authors and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Sen. John Ensign, a Nevada Republican, wasn’t able to attend because of a scheduling conflict.

During the invitation-only meeting, panel members discussed the 80-page report and its findings regarding water, energy, transportation, education and the economy with its authors, Rob Lang and Mark Muro.

After hours of talking about the region’s woes and challenges, the discussion turned to how to turn the talk into action after UNLV President David Ashley introduced a proposal of his own.

He suggested major universities in each of the so-called “Intermountain West” states – Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona – host similar meetings of stakeholders and decision-makers to form a regional consensus that could be brought to Washington.

Reid made it clear that the onus is on local industry and officials to figure out what the region needs, not Washington.

“Don’t think you’re going to have an intermountain caucus out of the Senate because I won’t be a part of it,” he said. “You come up with something and then we’ll be happy to work with you.”

While Ashley’s remarks didn’t include a suggested timetable, they resulted in what many saw as a positive step forward.

“It’s going to take planning to come up with the right plan as to how we should move forward,” Reid acknowledged, but the Nevada Democrat said he was optimistic that progress could be made. “Other places have done so and (there’s) no reason we can’t.”

The other members of the panel -- Southern Nevada Water Authority general manager Pat Mulroy, County Commission Chairman Rory Reid, Nevada Energy President and chief executive officer Michael W. Yackira, and Regional Transportation Commission general manager Jacob Snow -- seemed to agree.

Mulroy said the region’s water industry leaders already are working together to tackle the issues they face.

“In the Colorado River community … there has not been a formal organization put in place, but we’re moving money state to state, we’re moving water state to state, we are banking on each other’s jurisdictions, we are very much working our way toward some sort of kind of formalized system on the Colorado River and it’s coming organically … from the participants up and not the feds down,” she said.

She said the same could be done in other industries and throughout the region, which the Brookings report said is poised to become a new American heartland, largely because of rapid growth combined with economic and demographic changes.

“We have to take ownership of the issue and move it forward,” Mulroy said.

She said she is in favor of regional, industry-specific summits.

“If you have a broad, rushed discussion it will meander in so many different directions that you’ll come out with nothing,” she said, suggesting each of the region’s universities host an industry-specific round of talks.

Mulroy said she hopes to see such discussions scheduled for “the beginning of next year.”

“If you create the opportunity the ideas will begin to happen,” she said.

Yackira, who has disagreed with Nevada Energy in the past, said he also hoped to see similar discussions hosted at the region’s universities –- but he hopes to see a range of issues on the table at each of the talks.

“I think that (these issues are) so intertwined,” he said.

Before any regional consensus can be formed and brought to Reid and his colleagues in Washington, local officials need to form a consensus of their own, Yackira said.

“In order for us to have a position with respect to the Intermountain West, we need to have a position within Nevada,” he said. “It has to be clear as to what it is that we’re looking for in terms of working together because if we’re simply saying, ‘OK, we’re going to work together,’ without understanding what does it mean for Nevada, I’m not sure that it really gets us there.”

Brookings trustee and Las Vegas Sun Editor Brian Greenspun said the meeting and resulting conversations were a “good first step” toward putting the Brookings report into action. He told the crowd it had the power to take the ideas put forth and turn them into reality.

Reid said he was hopeful the suggestions and ideas voiced Tuesday would be put into motion.

“It’s up to them. It’s not my responsibility (but) I would hope that they’d follow through and start doing some regional meetings and develop some legal entity … where they can collect dues and have regular meetings,” Reid said. “After they do that they can say, ‘OK, here’s what we need in the Intermountain West for education, here’s what you can do to help us. Here’s what you can do about transportation.’”

UNLV Executive Vice President and Provost Neal Smatresk said he was pleased with the enthusiastic buzz created during Tuesday’s discussions.

“There’s kind of a multi-pronged effort shaping up very, very quickly,” he said. “These things don’t roll out overnight but I’d be shocked if we couldn’t pull the first meeting together sometime next year, fairly early in the year.”