LETTER: Federal government owns too much Nevada land

Evan Blythin (Thursday letter to the Review-Journal on development) continues to beat his own drum with disregard for the salient facts. No county in the United States has done more for conservation, endangered species management, water conservation and protection of natural resources than Clark County. Thankfully, Gov. Joe Lombardo understands the federal government owns about 85 percent of Nevada’s total land, the highest percentage in the nation, and he further understands that in order to support economic growth, attainable housing, infrastructure, community development and conservation the federal government must ease its monopoly.

Timely federal land disposal has been critical to Clark County since passage of the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act in 1998. The goal was to dispose of public land within the Las Vegas Valley urban area while using sale proceeds to support conservation initiatives and land protection. After 25 years, the self-imposed federal administrative practices have become overly burdensome. Land sales have slowed to a trickle with less than 2,500 acres sold by BLM over the past seven years.

More importantly, more than $700 million in previous land sale proceeds, dedicated to conservation, remain unobligated in a special account controlled by the BLM.

It is not growth that has become cancerous, but rather the federal land monopoly. Consider me beating the drum for the governor’s call to release more federal land and improve the federal process for conservation and economic development vital to our community.