March 13, 2008
State Legislative Committee Visits Caliente

Photo by Dave Maxwell State Legislative Committee on Public Lands meeting in Caliente, March 7, 2008.

By Dave Maxwell, Staff Writer

State Senator Dean Rhoads (R-Tuscarora), Chairman of the Legislative Committee on Public Lands, presided at the March 7 committee meeting at the Caliente Youth Center. The meeting included discussion on a wide range of public lands and related natural resource issues important to Lincoln County and eastern Nevada.

Meeting last in Lincoln County in 2004, Senator Rhoads said the committee was glad to be able to come and talk about water issues, off-highway vehicle use, recreation, and the transportation of nuclear waste by rail through the Caliente Corridor.

“Now we have an opportunity to hear directly about some of the impacts this railroad proposal may have on rural Nevada counties. We wanted to hear about the potential economic and environmental impacts that could be huge and wanted to learn how the rail lines might impact grazing allotments, wildlife, recreation, mining, basic land uses, and the overall Nevada economy.”

Lincoln County Commission Chairwoman Ronda Hornbeck, Dr. Mike Baughman - President of Intertech Services, Connie Simkins - Lincoln County Nuclear Oversight Program Coordinator, and Jeremy Drew of Resource Concepts, Inc., gave reports on Lincoln County’s comments to the DOE Draft Environmental Impact Statement regarding the proposed nuclear waste railroad route through Nevada, including Lincoln County, to the planned storage site at Yucca Mountain.

Senator Rhoads said his committee “Will definitely watch that very close and monitor it very carefully.” He said his committee does make trips to Washington D.C. and makes recommendations to the Nevada Congressional delegation. “And if there is an issue they don’t want to vote on, and when they pass the blame to us, then we get to tell them what to do,” he said.

The committee also heard testimony on the use of off-highway vehicles (OHVs) on public land from Michael Stewart, Supervising Principal Research Analyst, Research Division, Legislative Counsel Bureau and Gene Kolkman, Nevada Responsible Trails Alliance.

They also heard updates from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge and the Moapa Valley Wildlife Refuge and presentations about the planned Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) water pipeline to transport water from valleys in Lincoln and White Pine counties to Las Vegas.

Senator Rhoads said his committee can closely monitor the water issue with the Southern Nevada Water Authority. State Water Engineer Tracy Taylor will rule on applications SNWA currently has in Cave, Dry Lake and Delamar Valleys. “If we feel the water engineer made a bad judgment…we can bring him in and suggest to him that he made a mistake and pass a resolution or even pass a new Nevada Revised Statutes law….We have the powers and we’ve been very successful on several issues like that in the past,” he said.

Senator Rhoads, who represents the citizens of Lincoln, White Pine, Elko, Eureka, Humboldt, Lander, Pershing and part of Nye Counties said, “The water issue is so important to you people down here and in southern Nevada…I thought the comments from a lot of the individuals down here was really pertinent…and we got some pretty good points that we can take back with us and come up with a mock bill in the next two or three meetings and try to take some action on that.”