Nevada public land transfers advance in U.S. Senate

WASHINGTON -- The Senate this afternoon renewed its support for a suite of federal lands bills that include a handful of initiatives in Nevada.

Legislation that passed 77-20 combined nearly 170 individual bills that had been stalled. Overall, it would set aside 2 million acres of protected wilderness in nine states, and add more than 1,000 miles of waterways to the system of "wild and scenic" rivers.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., voted for it. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., voted against it.

Among Southern Nevada elements, the package contains:

—A flood control bill that would release 65 acres along the foothills of Sunrise Mountain to be incorporated into the Orchard Detention Basin Project, a storm water basin being engineered by Clark County.

—An 80-acre land transfer in Summerlin, of which 24.4 acres would be granted by the Bureau of Land Management to the Nevada Cancer Institute for a campus and treatment center.

The remainder of the property at Alta Drive and Hualapai Way would be sold to the city of Las Vegas, which plans to have 16 acres developed for medical offices. The city also envisions a park and water pumping station at the site.

—A transfer of 502 acres from BLM to Henderson for development around the Henderson Executive Airport.

—A study of sites that played a role in the Cold War for possible inclusion in the government's inventory of historically significant landmarks.

The Cold War study bill was inspired in part by efforts of Southern Nevadan Steve Ririe, who has researched and documented the site atop Mount Charleston where a C-54 transport plane crashed in 1955 on a secret flight to Area 51 along the dry Groom Lake bed near the Nevada Test Site.

The umbrella public lands bill passed the Senate in January but was stalled in the House. The Senate made a procedural change to pass the bill again, sending it back to the House for final action possibly next week.

Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@stephensmedia.com or 202-783-1760.