Congressman hopeful lands transfer bill will get a hearing in September

ELKO – U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei said Tuesday that he expects a hearing this year on his Nevada lands bill, HR 1484, which would transfer federal land to the state. The Nevada Lands Council hosted a meeting in Elko to discuss the bill with ranchers, city and county officials, recreationists and other interested parties. Amodei said he wants a hearing on HR 1484 -- Honor the Nevada Enabling Act of 1864 Act – this September. “We know it’s not going to pass the Senate this year and this administration won’t sign it … but we want to continue building on the work that we’ve done at the state level and the organization level,” Amodei said. He hopes to get a hearing to have people start talking about the bill. The bill calls for the transfer of federal public lands in two phases. The first phase would transfer 7.2 million acres and about 2 million acres of this, which consists of land already designated for disposal by the federal government, would be sold to finance management divisions of the state lands office. The lands to be transferred would include Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service lands, BLM Interstate 80 checkerboard land, surplus Bureau of Reclamation Land and other surplus federal land. The land transfer would not include wilderness areas, national parks and monuments, national recreation areas, national wildlife refuges and conservation areas, federally recognized Indian reservations, areas of critical concern and military installations...more