Two important public-lands bills, one which would be a key victory for environmental protection in Southern Nevada if it becomes law, are finally on the move in Congress. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee last week passed a Clark County lands bill that preserves 450,000 acres as wilderness and frees another 183,000 acres for possible development. The bill also allows a land swap protecting Red Rock Canyon and paves the way for an airport in the Ivanpah Valley 30 miles south of Las Vegas. The committee also passed a bill that would allow transfer of 2,240 acres of federal land to Clark County. That land would be used to build a 640-acre shooting range permanently buffered from any conflicting use.
The bills represent a lot of time, hard work and patience by Southern Nevada residents, local government officials and the state's congressional delegation. On the lands bill, for example, the Nevada Wilderness Coalition spent more than a year preparing its recommendations. It members personally surveyed the lands under consideration and attended many meetings to forge consensus with other groups and individuals. Rep. Jim Gibbons introduced a bill in the House that differed significantly from the Senate bill. Fearing an impasse on this important bill, the Sun editorialized in favor of a reasonable compromise. Fortunately, the House and Senate did just that.
It would serve Nevada well for this spirit of compromise to continue as the bill makes its way to the full House and the full Senate. Time is vanishing in this second session of Congress and if the bills never reach the White House for President Bush's signature, all of the efforts by so many people would have been wasted and Nevada's citizens would lose out. National environmental groups can do their part in expediting the bill by not contesting the compromise language ensuring that water rights remain with Nevada in the wilderness areas.
As for the shooting-range bill, passage by the Senate committee represents a milestone in the efforts over the past several years by the congressional delegation, Southern Nevada governments, law enforcement agencies and individuals to secure land for this purpose. Police agencies, especially, need a new range for training, as their current one near Sunrise Mountain is being squeezed out by residential development. The new site, 10 miles north of Las Vegas, would be isolated and well buffered. We hope that by the time Congress adjourns in December, both of these bills will have made it through and that President Bush will have signed them into law.
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