Local control

More evidence this week that the BLM needs to divest a portion of its vast Nevada real estate portfolio, particularly lands it holds in urban Clark County.

Four Republicans on the House Committee on Natural Resources — including Nevada Rep. Cresent Hardy — held a special hearing earlier this week in North Las Vegas to highlight the inefficiencies inherent in the BLM overseeing large swaths of acreage in the Las Vegas Valley.

Steve Parrish, the general manager of the Clark County Regional Flood Control District, told the congressmen that, thanks to the federal bureaucracy, his outfit can’t even clear away the rocks and soil that flow into one local detention basin after rainfall. Seems the basin is built on land the BLM leases to the county, so the district must either wait 90 days for the federal agency to evaluate the sediment or pay a royalty to the government to ensure a quick cleanup. That makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it? Mr. Parrish also noted that the county must solicit approval from the BLM before it can build a new tennis court in at least one local park and that the city of Las Vegas has to jump through federal hoops at one of its reclaimed water plants built on land leased from the federal government.

“There is no reason the BLM should retain title to these lands that are being used for public facilities,” Mr. Parrish said. He’s right.

Since passage of the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act in 1998, the BLM has auctioned off thousands of acres in the Las Vegas area to private interests. Some of the money raised has gone to local governments to build parks and other recreational facilities. In addition, the feds have directed some of the funds to purchase “environmentally sensitive” lands in other parts of the state.

But the agency still rides herd over significant acreage near developed areas of Clark County, particularly in the southwest valley. There’s no need for this — and it contributes to increasing property and housing costs in the region.

Congress should do what’s necessary to prod the BLM to shed property it continues to lease or manage in Southern Nevada’s urban areas.