[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 150 (Tuesday, October 20, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12735-S12736]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      ENACTMENT OF THE SOUTHERN NEVADA PUBLIC LAND MANAGEMENT ACT

 Mr. BRYAN. Mr. President, it is with great pleasure that I 
rise today to announce the enactment of the Southern Nevada Public Land 
Management Act. This historic legislation passed the Senate on October 
8th and President Clinton signed it into law on October 19, 1998.
  Mr. President, this legislation has its roots in the Southern Nevada 
Public Lands Task Force. The Task Force was originally established in 
the summer of 1994 by Congressman Jim Bilbray to provide an open forum 
in which public land issues affecting the Las Vegas Valley could be 
discussed among federal, state, local, and private entities. It is 
comprised of representatives from the State of Nevada, Clark County, 
the cities of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, and Henderson, the Bureau of 
Land Management, the Forest Service, the National Park Service, the 
Fish and Wildlife Service, the Southern Nevada Water Authority, the 
Regional Flood Control District, the Clark County School District, and 
representatives of the development and environmental communities.
  At its inception, the Task Force set two primary goals for itself: 
(1) to establish and maintain a better working relationship between the 
BLM and local governmental planning agencies; and (2) to develop a 
``master plan'' for the Las Vegas Valley that identified those BLM 
lands which should be transferred to private ownership and those which 
should be retained for public purposes.
  In the summer of 1995, Senator Reid and I reconvened the Task Force 
to build on the goal of developing a ``master plan'' for the Las Vegas 
Valley. We worked closely with the Task Force in our efforts to develop 
a legislative proposal that sought to improve the current BLM land 
disposal policy in the Las Vegas Valley; this proposal eventually 
became the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act, which Senator 
Reid and I introduced in the Senate on March 19, 1996. Congressman 
Ensign then introduced a companion bill in the House, and I have 
enjoyed working with him in a bipartisan fashion over the last several 
years to fine tune this legislation and shepherd it through the 
Congress.
  The Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act is a response to 
perhaps the greatest challenge facing Southern Nevada--the need to 
promote responsible, orderly growth in the Las Vegas Valley while 
protecting the surrounding environment and enhancing the recreational 
opportunities that exist in Southern Nevada. In the broadest sense, the 
legislation reflects a partnership between federal, state, and local 
entities to enhance the quality of life in the Las Vegas Valley and 
throughout the State of Nevada.
  As many of my colleagues are aware, the Las Vegas valley is the 
fastest growing metropolitan area in the country. Since the beginning 
of this decade, nearly five thousand people each month, on average, 
have chosen to make Las Vegas their  new home. Last year alone, nearly 
20,000 new homes were built in the Las Vegas valley to accommodate this 
explosive growth. And while the majority of Southern Nevadans have 
welcomed the benefits of an expanding, robust economy, there is a 
realization within the community that a long-term, strategic plan must 
be developed to deal with growth related problems.

  Both State and local elected officials are currently grappling with 
different ideas as to how best to meet the infrastructure needs and 
quality of life expectations of current and future generations of 
southern Nevadans. Local officials estimate that new infrastructure 
development over the next ten years will cost between three and eight 
billion dollars for such things as school construction and water, sewer 
and transit systems. To give you an idea of the magnitude of the 
situation, the Clark County School District needs the equivalent of a 
new elementary school every 30 days for the next five years to keep 
pace with the twelve thousand new students entering the school system 
every year.
  Mr. President, this legislation is a critical component of Southern 
Nevada's long term plan to manage growth in the Las Vegas valley. Each 
time the BLM transfers land into private ownership it has important 
repercussions for the local governmental entity that must provide 
infrastructure and services to that land. The Bureau of Land Management 
(BLM) controls in excess of 20,000 acres of land throughout the Las 
Vegas valley. Consequently, unlike most communities, land use planning 
decisions are not made solely at the local level; the BLM is an 
important player in the local land use planning process. This 
legislation would strengthen the partnership between the BLM and local 
government and improve upon the current land use planning process.
  The BLM's primary method of disposing of land in the Las Vegas 
valley, through land exchanges, has been the subject of much attention 
over the past several years. I happen to believe that land exchanges 
serve a valuable public purpose--the Federal Government disposes of 
land it no longer needs in exchange for land that is worthy of public 
ownership. In the Las Vegas valley, however, the real estate market is 
such that it does not lend itself well to appraisal-driven land 
exchanges. Disagreements between the BLM and exchange proponents over 
appraisal methodology and value determinations are often the cause of 
protracted delays in the land exchange process. Because of the dynamic 
nature of the real estate market in the Las Vegas valley, any delay in 
the exchange process can cause the appraisals to become outdated before 
the transaction is closed.
  Mr. President, the legislation before us today would make two 
significant improvements over the current land exchange process: (1) it 
would allow local land managers to take a more pro-active role in 
federal land disposal decisions; and (2) it would institute a 
competitive bidding procedure to ensure that the disposal of BLM land 
yields the highest return, or true ``fair market value.'' There are 
currently over twenty-five land exchange proposals pending in the BLM's 
Las Vegas office--some are clearly in the public interest, others are 
not. The vast majority of these proposals are intra-state exchanges, 
meaning the BLM has the authority to process them without Congressional 
action. This legislation would open the process to allow anyone who 
wishes to bid on BLM land to do so in a competitive sale, and it would 
eliminate the need to enter into protracted appraisal negotiations over 
selected BLM land that so often bog down the already cumbersome 
exchange process. The legislation stands for the same proposition as 
the current land exchange process--the sale of federal land in the Las 
Vegas Valley should be used as a means of protecting environmentally 
sensitive land throughout the State of Nevada and of enhancing the use 
of public land recreational areas in Southern Nevada.

[[Page S12736]]

  At the conceptual level, the legislation represents a synthesis of 
two previously enacted public land bills that specifically address 
public land management issues in Southern Nevada--the Santini-Burton 
Act and the Apex land transfer legislation. You may recall that the 
Santini-Burton Act, which was enacted in 1980, authorized the sale of 
BLM land in Las Vegas to fund the acquisition of environmentally 
sensitive land in the Lake Tahoe basin. Our legislation embodies a 
similar proposition--the sale of federal land in the Las Vegas Valley 
should be used as means of protecting environmentally sensitive land 
throughout the State of Nevada and of enhancing the use of public 
recreational areas in Southern Nevada. With nearly 5,000 new residents 
moving into the valley each month, it is imperative that we protect our 
open spaces around the valley from development and expand recreational 
opportunities for the public in order to maintain the quality of life 
we have come to expect in Southern Nevada.
  Also in keeping with Santini-Burton, our legislation recognizes that 
land use planning decisions are best made at the local level, so our 
proposal gives local government an equal voice in deciding when and 
where federal land sales should occur in the valley. The map referenced 
in section 4 of the bill would establish a boundary for future BLM land 
sales and exchanges in the Las Vegas Valley, and combined with other 
components of the bill, it would serve as the blueprint to assist us in 
designing public land policy for the 21st century. The map essentially 
represents the maximum build-out boundary for the valley; it was 
generated in close consultation with local governmental planning 
agencies and other members of the Task Force to reflect their vision 
for future growth and development in the valley. It is important to 
note that virtually all of the BLM land recommended for sale or 
exchange under this bill has already been identified for disposal by 
the BLM under the existing Management Framework Plan for the Las Vegas 
Valley. In fact, our legislation would reduce the overall amount of 
land available for disposal in the valley.
  The Apex land transfer legislation, enacted in 1989, transferred over 
20,000 acres of BLM land just outside the Las Vegas Valley to Clark 
County for the development of a heavy-use industrial site. When the 
land is improved and eventually sold by Clark County to a private 
entity, the revenue sharing provisions of the act allow Clark County 
recover the value of the infrastructure improvements it has made to the 
land before providing the federal government with its share of the 
proceeds from the sale. The legislation before us today recognizes the 
same principle--that the presence or proximity of local governmental 
services and infrastructure increases the value of federal land. 
Consequently, our legislation would direct a portion of the proceeds of 
federal land sales to local government to assist with local 
infrastructure development and to the state for the benefit of the 
general education program.

  Another important component of this legislation that I want to 
highlight today is involves affordable housing. This legislation will 
also make BLM land available throughout the State of Nevada to local 
public housing authorities for the purpose of developing affordable 
housing. There is currently a tremendous need in Los Vegas and Reno, 
and also in other communities throughout the state, for raw land to 
develop affordable housing projects. The BLM will now be able to assist 
each of these communities in meeting this important need.
  In closing, Mr. President, I want to acknowledge those members of the 
Public Land Task Force that played such an important role in the 
development of this legislation. Thanks go to Mike Dwyer of the BLM, 
Jim Tallerico and Alan Pinkerton of the Forest Service, Alan O'Neill 
and Bill Dickensen of the Park Service, and Ken Voget of the Fish and 
Wildlife Service. Thanks also go to State Senator Dina Titus, Pam 
Wilcox of the State Land Use Planning Agency, Rick Holmes, Jeff Harris, 
and Ron Gregory of Clark County, Pat Mulroy of the Las Vegas Valley 
Water District, Robert Baggs of the City of Las Vegas, Steve Baxter of 
the City of North Las Vegas, John Rinaldi of the City of Henderson, 
Gale Fraser of the Flood Control District, Dusty Dickens of the School 
District, Randy Walker and Jacob Snow with the Clark County Department 
of Aviation, and also Bob Broadbent, the former Director of the 
Aviation Department. A number of citizens representing the 
environmental community provided invaluable assistance; they include 
Jeff Van Ee, Lois Sagel, John Hiatt, Bob Maichle, and Steve Hobbs. From 
the development community thanks go to Robert Lewis, Bob Campbell, 
Scott Higginson, Mark Brown, and Jeff Rhoads. And finally, I want to 
thank Marcus Faust for all of his hard work on behalf of Clark County.
  Finally, Mr. President, I want to thank two members of my staff, 
Brent Heberlee and Sara Besser, for all of their work related to this 
legislation.
  I believe this legislation will make great strides toward improving 
public land management policy in Southern Nevada, and I look forward to 
continue working with all interested parties as this legislation is 
implemented.

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