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November 21, 2009

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945,000 acres protected from mining for 20 years

Federal agency withdraws critical environment in Southern Nevada

Image

Mona Shield Payne/Special to the Sun / File photo

Petroglyphs are shown in the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area. The area is part of 945,000 acres in Southern Nevada that the Bureau of Land Management is protecting from new mining activity in Southern Nevada for 20 years.

By Mary Manning (contact)

Friday, Oct. 30, 2009 | 5:25 p.m.

Click to enlarge photo

Mona Shield Payne/Special to the Sun / File photo

The Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area is part of 945,000 acres in Southern Nevada that the Bureau of Land Management is protecting from new mining activity in Southern Nevada for 20 years.

Beyond the Sun

The Bureau of Land Management signed an order today that withdraws almost 945,000 acres of sensitive public lands from new mining activity in Southern Nevada for 20 years.

The bureau said it had taken the action to protect 24 areas of critical environmental concern in Clark and Nye counties. Existing mining and geothermal claims will not be affected, the order said.

The sensitive areas include cultural sites, such as petroglyphs and archaeological sites, and wildlife habitat that is crucial for survival of the Mojave Desert tortoise, the southwestern willow flycatcher bird, woundfin and Virgin River chub fish and other species in the Ash Springs area.

These critical areas had been threatened from growth in the Las Vegas Valley, the bureau said. In order for threatened and endangered species to recover, their habitats need to be protected, the order said.

The lands affected in the critical areas have been temporarily set aside since the Clark County Conservation of Public Land and Natural Resource Act of 2002 was passed. BLM extended that order in 2007.

The withdrawal order will be published in the Federal Register on Monday.

Last December, the Center for Biological Diversity submitted comments supporting the withdrawal while the public hearing process was under way.

"The BLM's actions demonstrate a commitment by that agency to protect Southern Nevada's natural and cultural heritage," said Rob Mrowka, conservation advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity. "It is significant action, but the threats from sprawl development, groundwater exploitation, illicit off-road vehicle use and poorly located energy projects remain and will continue to be a challenge for federal land managing agencies."

Some of the areas listed in the land withdrawal order include Amargosa mesquite trees, Ash Meadows, Arden historic sites, Arrow Canyon, Gold Butte and town site, Hidden Valley, Keyhole Canyon, Mormon Mesa tortoise habitat, Rainbow Gardens, Red Rock Spring, River Mountains, Sloan rock art and Virgin River critical areas.

Discussion: 7 comments so far…

  1. By yodiracer
    10/30/09 at 6:24 p.m.
    Suggest removal

    One rock with ancient graffiti on it and shut down thousands of acres to possible fuel/mineral resources? Friggin' liberal idiots. Why? So you can go see how Graffiti looked hundreds of years ago. This liberal stupidity is why the USA is doomed.

  2. By LasVegas2009
    10/30/09 at 7:45 p.m.
    Suggest removal

    Yeah with this great economy we wouldnt wanna create a bunch of mining jobs. Just think of the thousands of jobs not created by doing this. Maybe next they can out law gambling.

  3. By Sunlizard
    10/31/09 at 7:43 a.m.
    Suggest removal

    Why only 20 years?

  4. By its2hot
    10/31/09 at 11:14 a.m.
    Suggest removal

    It's about time they remove some of the liberal policies that is destroying the American economy.

    This will open up large scale gravel pits and other forms of mining and future developments that will help keep future construction costs down and create decent paying jobs.

    Hopefully the BLM will take other measures throughout the USA and ease the liberal restrictions that have choked our economy for too many years.

    Now all we need is to ease the Endangered Species Act and other fruitless Environmental Laws that the liberals have enacted and we will see instant recovery and substantially lower development and construction costs and unemployment will once again become a thing of the past.

  5. By djeco
    10/31/09 at 1:14 p.m.
    Suggest removal

    Here is an analogy to help Republicans understand what they are actually saying.

    So, you are living in a house and start feeling cold. Republican philosophy would say, tear down the walls to build a fire in order to keep warm for a few minutes.

    Liberal philosophy would say, put on your coat and leave the house alone.

    its2hot- you need to study up a bit on human history. When past civilizations got too greedy and destroyed their environment, their societies ("eco"nomies) always followed.

  6. By its2hot
    11/1/09 at 9:21 a.m.
    Suggest removal

    "Its2hot- you need to study up a bit on human history. When past civilizations got too greedy and destroyed their environment, their societies ("eco"nomies) always followed."

    Greed is what created the mess in the first place and the liberals are the greediest group of them all.

    A. The cost to prepare an ERI cost more than it does to construct a project.
    B. Compliance adds 30% to 60% to all construction costs, the high end is California.
    C. Monitoring adds 12% to 20% to all construction costs.
    D. Permits can take up to 30 years to attain.

    It is the Democrats with the UC Berkley and San Francisco nut cases that infiltrated throughout the USA have devised a system where they instill fear to the general public all in the name of greed.

    It was like a project where a Red Legged frog was present and EIR had to be completed before permits or construction could start. The time and cost impacts to the project was in excess of $10 million just for the EIR and the time it added was estimated to be 15 years before development could've even start. Being sick of this, it took one weekend t remove the ponds and dry the property, this cost $2,500.00. After the Fish and Game was done with us and a court fine of $1 million dollars, permits were attained in less than 14 months. This was the best spent million dollars ever and well worth the fine. The fine was used to pay for the lunatics; it went to the Public Agency.

    Before you praise your party, look real close at where the greed starts and ends, the Democratic Party. If you have any doubt, look at Clinton, Gore, Kerry, Pelosi, Rangel, and the rest of the career politicians who've magically attained wealth way beyond the reported wages and wages paid for their Government classifications. They're CROOKS and GREEDY!

  7. By djeco
    11/1/09 at 5:22 p.m.
    Suggest removal

    Oh please, I'm not even talking about pure monetary greed (no party is immune to monetary greed). I'm talking about the Republican's incessant need to destroy every last pristine corner of the earth. Republicans would cut off their nose to spite there face. If saving pieces of wilderness makes money for the Liberals, so be it. Better to save it and make a profit than to destroy it for a profit.

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