Henderson mayor backs Heck bill

Henderson Mayor Andy Hafen on Tuesday urged a House panel to support legislation to help clean up Three Kids Mine.

Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., has introduced legislation that would convey 948 acres of abandoned mine property to the Henderson Redevelopment Agency for cleanup and redevelopment. Another 312 acres of contaminated mine property is private land.

Appearing before the House Natural Resources subcommittee on energy and mineral resources, Hafen said that transfer of the public land is needed to provide a "cost-effective and comprehensive cleanup" of the abandoned manganese mine.

The private property has large pits suitable for use as mine residue repositories, which are needed to clean up the federal land. Excavation, transportation and off-site residue disposal would otherwise be prohibitively expensive, Hafen said.

The Henderson Redevelopment Agency has an agreement with Lakemoore Development LLC to finance the cleanup and convert the 1,262 acres into a residential development.

The property on Lake Mead Parkway across from Lake Las Vegas is contaminated with lead, arsenic, asbestos and piles of tailings and trash.

Reps. Joe Heck, R-Nev., Mark Amodei, R-Nev., and Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., are supporting the legislation. Amodei chaired Tuesday's hearing. Heck, who is not a member of the panel, was present for the testimony.

Heck said that the project is a "unique public, private partnership proposal" that would create jobs at no cost to the federal government.

Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., who serves on the panel, raised concerns about the cost of the cleanup and who would pay for it if the project fell apart.

"I support the goals," he said. "But, we still need to address whether there are sufficient funds to complete the clean up and who would be responsible if the cleanup was abandoned."

Mike Pool, deputy director of the Bureau of Land Management, said the agency also supports the cleanup effort but have reservations about the legislation.

In particular, the bureau wants the federal land transfered earlier in the process and wants to insure that the Southern Nevada Water Authority retain access to critical water and utility infrastructure on the property.

Hafen said in an interview before the hearing that the public-private partnership is probably "the best way" available to clean up the property that is both an environmental and physical hazard.

When completed, the residential project would allow an additional 15,000 people to move to Henderson bringing with them between $1.5 billion and $2 billion in economic impact, he said.

A nearby Landwell project that included 2,200 acres was estimated to have a $3 billion economic impact, Hafen said.

Barry Conaty, a partner at Holland & Hart, also testified before the panel on behalf of the legislation.

Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Dean Heller, R-Nev., are backing a companion bill in the Senate.