House passes Northern Nevada land bills
WASHINGTON — The House passed a collection of Northern Nevada land bills Monday that would create nearly 73,500 acres of new wilderness in the state while making more than 23,000 acres available for economic development in rural counties.
Lawmakers by voice vote approved seven bills rolled into a package that re-designates federal property in Lyon, Storey, Humboldt, Elko and Churchill counties.
The centerpiece would allow the city of Yerington to buy 10,000 acres to spur development surrounding the Pumpkin Hollow Mine, a Nevada Copper venture that company officials say could create 1,000 mining and construction jobs and 1,500 jobs in ancillary businesses. At the same time, about 47,500 acres south of Yerington in Lyon County would be designated as the protected Wovoka Wilderness.
The bill also would set aside 26,000 acres as wilderness in the Pine Forest Range in Humboldt County northwest of Winnemucca, while removing the wilderness study status that had blocked multiple uses on another 990 acres.
The legislation was stalled in the House earlier this year, but negotiations among Reps. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., Mark Amodei, R-Nev., and leaders of the Natural Resources Committee resulted in a compromise that now heads to the Senate for final action.
“We’re transferring land that was in federal management back to the state for economic development and conservation,” said Horsford, adding it would be the largest wilderness bill to be passed by Congress in four years.
Horsford said House passage was a “tiny crack in the dam of congressional gridlock.” He said he was hopeful it would prove a precursor to House action on a stalled Southern Nevada lands bill anchored by the designation of fossil beds at Tule Springs in Clark County as a national monument.
Amodei noted similar legislation passed the House last year but died in the Senate when key senators decided it did not contain enough wilderness. He said that issue was addressed in the new bill and challenged the Senate to grant it final passage. Sens. Harry Reid and Dean Heller of Nevada are sponsors.
Under the bill, the city of Carlin, in Elko County, would be given 1,329 acres for development while 1,745 acres would be granted to Storey County and 9,114 acres to Fernley in Lyon County. The city of Elko would obtain 275 acres for a motocross park, and 373 acres would be held in trust to expand the reservation of the Te-moak Tribe of Western Shoshone Indians, of Elko.
Another 400 acres of Bureau of Land Management property within the Fallon Naval Air Station would be transferred to the Navy for base housing.
Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@stephensmedia.com or 202-783-1760. Find him on Twitter: @STetreaultDC.
