Las Vegas sprawl at a crossroads

A remarkable sequence of events unfolded in the week before Memorial Day that could shape the future of Las Vegas more than anything else in recent memory. 

First, Nevada Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei made what may prove to be a fateful miscalculation in the waning days of the House’s negotiations over the reconciliation budget bill. He added an amendment in the literal dark of night that would authorize — nay compel — the sale of over half a million acres of public land in Nevada. 

Public outrage ensued. 

The lands in question in Amodei’s amendment have been considered for sell-off in various land legislation proposals in recent years. Though those proposals have been problematic, conservation interests and county governments were at least involved in the negotiations. It felt like Amodei was blowing up the years of work they’d put in.

His sneak attack also sparked outrage across the entire country. Former Interior Secretary and Montana Republican U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke led the charge in D.C. against the amendment, calling it “my San Juan Hill,” in reference to a battle in the Spanish-American War. Other members of Congress spoke out, and calls from around the country flooded Amodei’s office.

In the end, Amodei bowed to pressure and his amendment was withdrawn from the final House budget bill. Instead of scoring a victory for the real estate and mining interests that bankroll him, he dealt a historic setback to the public lands sell-off movement.

At the same time as negotiations were under way in D.C., the Nevada legislature was considering Assembly Joint Resolution 10, which was an endorsement of the Clark County lands bill. 

The Clark County lands bill — one of the aforementioned lands legislation proposals of recent years — would facilitate tens of thousands of acres of new sprawl south of Las Vegas. It would create a new city the size of St. Louis, stretching all the way to the California border. 

While some environmental groups have been supportive of the Clark County lands bill, citing conservation interests, our groups have steadfastly opposed any proposal that would facilitate the endless sprawl that strains our water supply and harms our air quality, wildlife habitats and communities. 

The Sierra Club, Great Basin Water Network, and Nevada Environmental Justice Coalition worked relentlessly for weeks to halt the measure. 

Amodei’s deeply unpopular amendment loomed large in Nevada’s legislative chambers. The prospect of Democrats endorsing endless sprawl days after Zinke — Trump’s former Interior Secretary — defended public lands was something that Carson City politicians couldn’t stomach. Legislators let the Clark County lands bill die late last week. 

It wasn’t just sprawl on public lands that was dealt a blow last week, however. Coyote Springs — a proposed city on a privately owned parcel of land 50 miles northeast of Las Vegas — had one of the last nails pounded into its coffin by a Clark County District Court judge. 

The developers behind Coyote Springs proposed building a city of a quarter million people on desert they own in northern Clark and southern Lincoln counties. 

The problem is they have no water. And the groundwater that sits deep under their land — which they propose pumping to fill swimming pools and irrigate golf courses — is connected to waters that sustain endangered species and communities downstream via the Muddy River and Colorado River system.

After years of wrangling in court — including a key victory for the Center for Biological Diversity and allies when the Nevada Supreme Court affirmed the state’s right to manage groundwater for the public interest, including wildlife — Judge Bita Yeager ruled last week that pumping at Coyote Springs would harm endangered species and communities. 

While Coyote Springs backers are sure to appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court, the evidence and law is overwhelmingly against the project. 

Recent momentum clearly favors those who oppose the endless sprawl machine. But what does the future hold? 

We caught a glimpse last week, as the Federal Aviation Administration and the Bureau of Land Management launched an environmental review for the proposed Southern Nevada Supplemental Airport, formerly known as the Ivanpah Airport. 

The enormous international airport would be built 30 miles south of Las Vegas on a playa near Primm. In addition to the airport and associated facilities, the site would also include retail and industrial development. It would need pipelines for water, tons of concrete, and land currently inhabited by the imperiled desert tortoise. 

The land for the airport was given to Clark County by Congress in 2000, meaning that its permitting is close to a foregone conclusion. Even before Trump launched his assault on the nation’s bedrock environmental laws, federal agencies by and large have rubber-stamped these sorts of developments.

What’s not a foregone conclusion is whether the airport will ever be built. Where will the water come from? Who will pay the Southern Nevada Water Authority to build one pipeline to tap into Colorado River water and another to bring back effluent? Where will the people who work there live? Will we have an exodus of workers driving 60 miles roundtrip to the airport, while tourists do the same long journey just to get to The Strip? Who will pay for the new electricity infrastructure, new schools, new roads, new sewers — new everything? 

The Las Vegas growth machine is at a crossroads. 

While corporations and their politician handmaidens are growing bolder than ever in pushing the development agenda, the public is coming to the defense of our public lands and pushing back against endless sprawl. 

Our organizations will continue to highlight the absurdities of selling off public lands for sprawl and oppose these measures in all their forms. The remarkable events of the past week underscored that we have the power to resist — and win.