Land Sales Aimed at Fueling Growth: LA Times

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Miller, Steve Page 1 of 4 From: Loretta Lohman [lorettalohman @comcast.net] Sent: Wednesday, August 18, 2004 8:09 AM To: Laurie Fisher; Dave Merritt; Miller, Steve Subject: Nevada growth http:/ /www.latimes.conV news / nationworld/nation /la- me- nevada 18aug 18, 1,829254.story ?coll =la- home - headlines Land Sales Aimed at Fueling Growth State's lawmakers say selling off federal land will spur growth. Foes see it as a giveaway. By Bettina Boxall and Julie Cart Times Staff Writers August 18, 2004 ALAMO, Nev. — This was territory nobody wanted — not homesteaders, not city dwellers, not even the railroads. It remained the big empty: a state -sized expanse of sagebrush, canyon lands and jagged mountains left almost entirely to the federal government. But now Nevada's Lincoln County, a 10,637- square -mile piece of the lonely Old West, might be headed for a bit of a New West boom. "Let us grow. Let us develop our water. Let us bring in some industry," pleads County Commissioner Tim Perkins. The Nevada congressional delegation is doing its best to oblige. In June, members introduced a bill that would ease the way for hundreds of miles of water pipelines across federal land and carve out 87,000 acres of public holdings — the equivalent of nearly three San Franciscos — to sell for private development around the county's scattered little communities. Big enough to swallow New Hampshire and Rhode Island, Lincoln County is home to fewer than 5,000 people. An air of abandonment hangs over many of its settlements. Occasional gas stations and small markets are strung along the roads. Ranchers in pickups rumble up to tiny cafes veiled in homemade curtains to hear the local gossip. With about 1,800 residents, Pioche — the county seat and historic silver - mining center a three -hour drive northeast of Las Vegas — is as bustling as the county gets. The proposal to sell off federal land here is the latest in a series of congressional acts, launched in 1998, that are helping fuel southern Nevada's explosive expansion. The approach Nevada officials are pushing is being eyed as a model in other Western states where the federal government controls huge swaths of land. Originally designed to divest the U.S. Bureau of Land Management of property it owned around the Las Vegas Strip — so- called urban islands that didn't make sense for a wild -land management agency to keep — the Nevada land bills now reach beyond the metropolitan fringe into distant desert. Members of Congress from Nevada promise more to come as they move to pare the federal government's historic share of their state. 8/23/2004