Friday, October 03, 2014

Why a popular Nevada lands bill got held up in Congress

When Nevadans want to change how they use the land they walk on, they often need permission from Congress. That's a fact of life when the federal government owns about 85 percent of the state's land. Between 2009 and 2010, two Nevada communities pitched Congress to preserve a wilderness area and open another piece of federal land to mining. That mine would bring at least 1,000 jobs to a county with double-digit unemployment. Locals thought it would be an easy win. Instead, they got a lesson in why lands bills are so hard to move through a hyperpartisan Congress. After three and a half years and about eight committee hearings, the bill finally passed the U.S. House of Representatives in September. The Northern Nevada Land Conservation and Economic Development Act would create about 73,500 acres of protected wilderness in exchange for allowing 23,000 acres of federal land for economic development, including a copper mine. The biggest Nevada lands package in 16 years now awaits a Senate vote, and its future is still uncertain. "We didn't anticipate it would take this long or have this much resistance," said George Dini, the mayor of Yerington. Here's a look at how a bill that has the support of everyone in Nevada got caught up in a Congress that made it about something much bigger...more

1 comment:

Floyd said...

I'm familiar with the Lyon County (Yerington) effort. The wilderness designation is required by Senator Reid and was not requested by local residents. Any local support comes from bar owners and some contractors who expect to profit directly from the mine development. Those people are more than happy to have several ranches and one smaller mine put out of business by their endorsement of wilderness designation. Ranches who own the Forest Service grazing preferences, off road travel enthusiasts, hunters, etc. opposed the wilderness. The County Commissioner who was the primary proponent of using wilderness to harm other people lost his bid for re-election in the primary. It looks like some other politicians should take note of that. The whole Lands Bill scheme is not joyfully accepted as at least one politician seems to believe.