A done deal, Obama to create “Basin and Range” monument

A vast sweep of rural Nevada marked by lonely desert valleys, craggy mountain ranges and both ancient and modern art will become the newest addition to the nation’s inventory of protected landscapes today. President Barack Obama will sign a proclamation designating the Basin and Range National Monument on 704,000 acres — 1,100 square miles — of Lincoln and Nye counties, the White House announced Thursday night. It will be the second monument created in Nevada within eight months and will join 21 others in the West and more than 100 around the country. Obama is scheduled to sign the monument proclamations at a White House ceremony set to include Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., the sponsors of failed legislation to set aside the Basin and Range area. The Basin and Range National Monument will consist of Garden Valley and Coal Valley, separated by the Golden Gate Range and including the Mount Irish Range, the Seaman Range and the Worthington Mountains. The preserved area would be withdrawn from most economic activity including mining and energy leasing, though some grazing would be allowed to continue by a handful of ranches that dot the landscape. The designation would also block a possible future rail corridor for nuclear waste shipments to the proposed Yucca Mountain repository. In Lincoln County, which contains the bulk of Basin and Range and has fought the proposal for years, Commissioner Kevin Phillips could barely contain his rage Thursday. “It’s disgusting. It’s loathsome. It’s illegal. It’s unfair,” he said. “We feel like we’re not citizens.” The Lincoln County native and former mayor of Caliente contends the designation adds another layer of government restriction to a county where more than 97 percent of the land is already — and he believes wrongly — under federal control. Phillips said this action by “an imperial president and some imperial senator” will forever close the area to oil, gas and mineral exploration that might have given the struggling county a much needed boost. He said it’s only a matter of time before federal authorities also move to regulate ranching out of existence within the new monument, regardless of their claims to the contrary. “A monument to what for criminy’s sake?” Phillips said. Nye County Commissioner Lorinda Wichman said she was “extremely disappointed” by the move but not the least bit surprised. She said Reid has spent his career locking land away from Nevada residents. “What does he want? Does he want to throw us all out? He doesn’t want people here anymore?” Wichman said...more