HB 2374 Eastern Nevada Economic Development and Land Management Improvement Act

About HB-2374

Eastern Nevada Economic Development and Land Management Improvement Act

Section 2

This bill amends the Lincoln County Land Act of 2000 (LCLA) to require implementation of a multispecies habitat conservation plan in Lincoln County, Nevada. Both the LCLA and the Lincoln County Conservation, Recreation, and Development Act of 2004 (LCCRDA) are amended to make certain amounts available for comprehensive, cost-effective, and multijurisdictional hazardous fuels reduction projects and wildfire prevention planning activities (particularly for pinyon-juniper dominated landscapes) and other rangeland and woodland restoration projects within the county, consistent with the Ely Resource Management Plan or subsequent revisions or amendments to it. The bill requires cooperative agreements between the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Lincoln County for certain county-provided law enforcement and planning-related activities approved by the Department of the Interior. Certain portions of land sale proceeds returned to the County under the LCLA and the LCCRDA shall be used for economic development. Under the LCCRDA Interior shall realign a specified portion of a 2,640-foot wide utility corridor. The bill: affirms and validates patent number 27-2005-0081 issued by the BLM on February 18, 2005, for the benefit of the desert tortoise, other species, and their habitats, to increase the likelihood of their recovery; and ratifies the processes used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the BLM in reconfiguring the land covered by the patent. The BLM may issue a corrective patent for 7,548 specified acres of land in Lincoln County.

Section 3

The bill amends the Pam White Wilderness Act to adjust the boundary of the Mt. Moriah Wilderness to include specified lands, and the boundary of the High Schells Wilderness to include and exclude specified lands. The bill amends the Nevada Wilderness Protection Act of 1989 to adjust the boundary of the Arc Dome Wilderness to exclude specified land.

Section 4

The bill amends the White Pine County Conservation, Recreation, and Development Act of 2006 to require the portions of the proceeds from certain BLM land sales in White Pine County that are: paid to the county to also be used for municipal water and sewer infrastructure, public electric transmission facilities, and public broadband infrastructure; and deposited into the White Pine County Special Account, to be used by Interior for processing public land use authorizations and rights-of-way relating to the development of the land conveyed to the county under such Act, with an emphasis on authorizations and rights-of-way relating to any infrastructure needed for the expansion of the White Pine County Industrial Park. The bill further amends such Act to:

• (1) instruct, by December 31, 2018, the Departments of Agriculture and of the Interior, to convey certain lands to White Pine County, without consideration, in accordance with such Act, and if the conveyance has not been completed by such deadline, to immediately convey them to the county; and
• (2) allow the county, after the conveyance of those lands, to sell, lease, or convey the portion to be used for nonresidential development related to the expansion of Ely Airport and the industrial park, consistent with section 244 of the Nevada Revised Statutes effective as of this bill's enactment (currently, through a competitive bidding process).