It has taken Congress more than a century to relinquish power of federal lands in Nevada, and it doesn’t seem likely to get resolved any time soon.
The entire time it has been a state, Nevada has been waiting for congressional action to release federal lands back to the people of Nevada. Since Oct. 31, 1864 — that’s right, more than 152 years ago — Nevada has tried to gain control of those lands. Still, no action has been taken by Congress.
When Nevada was admitted as a state, a clause was added into its constitution which relinquished control of swaths of land with the understanding that the federal government would quickly dispose of the lands in private auctions. This was done so that land transfer would be quick and easy.
When the federal government gets involved, as Nevadans have learned for the past 152 years, nothing is quick and easy.
The lands were never sold, nor were they transferred. More than 7.2 million acres of Nevada are owned and controlled by the federal government, about 87 percent of all Nevada lands.
Unfortunately, this is an issue not only in Nevada, but in many other western states. Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Oregon and Alaska are the five states where a majority of the land is owned by the federal government.
By one estimate, more than 640 million acres in the west are under federal control. That’s a shocking 47 percent of all land.
However, Congress does have the opportunity to swiftly fix this problem.
Congress should consider Honor the Nevada Enabling Act of 1864 (H.R. 1484), to honor the commitment made to Nevada at the time of its statehood.
Sponsored by Congressman Mark Amodei, R-Nev., the bill is designed to follow the recommendations of the Nevada Public Land and Management Task Force to allow the transfer of Nevada lands in phases. The first phase would immediately transfer 7.2 million acres to state government control. The next phases would transfer subsequent acres by request from state and local governments to be used for revenue by those governments.
Nevada residents favor the potential land transfer. In the 2015 legislative session, Nevada lawmakers passed SJ1, urging Congress to honor this transfer.
Sadly, Amodei’s bill has been sitting without any action since April. The bill was introduced in March and was referred to the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources in April. There it still sits.
For years, Congress has lulled the American people into thinking reasonable legislation like this shouldn’t pass in a reasonable amount of time. That way of thinking needs to stop. The Silver State, not to mention the rest of the western United States, has been waiting 152 years to gain control of its land. Now is the time to make it happen.
Ashley Johnson is an independent communications contractor with the Nevada Policy Research Institute. Thinking of submitting an op-ed to the Washington Examiner? Be sure to read our guidelines on submissions.
