The Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act is a mouthful of words that denote a hugely important federal law that applies strictly to this area. Since 1998, when it was crafted largely by Sen. Richard Bryan’s office, it has facilitated Las Vegas’ furious growth by making vast tracts of public land available for development — with a fiscal twist. On a recent episode of (🎧) City Cast Las Vegas, host Dayvid Figler asked Gabby Birenbaum of the Nevada Independent, who’s written about SNPLMA, to break it down.
So (in the 1990s) there was this huge demand for land, and it was being sold off, but the proceeds weren't necessarily staying in the state, right?
Exactly. So what SNPLMA did was draw a boundary around Las Vegas, and all the land within it is available to be made private. The BLM would auction a parcel to the highest bidder — at some points I believe it got to $2 million per acre. The money would go toward priorities in Nevada, most of which are related to conservation. (Elsewhere, the proceeds from such land sales go into Uncle Sam’s pockets.) A lot is for initiatives in Clark County: protection for threatened species, new trails and parks. Some of it also goes up to Tahoe. Five percent goes toward education in Nevada, and 15% goes toward the Southern Nevada Water Authority.
Did anyone realize just how much money that would generate?
It's generated $4 billion. I think even Sen. Bryan’s office was surprised, but they certainly had an inkling. But people outside of Nevada did not. A lot of people said to me, if anyone had realized just how much money this was going to generate, and just how politically advantageous this would prove to be for the Nevada delegation, they might have never let it happen. No (other state) was able to craft a similar arrangement for themselves.
And, of course, Harry Reid growing in power over this period didn't hurt things.
Yeah, there were definitely attempts to redirect where those funds go, and there still are. There are people who say it should go toward the general treasury (or) paying down the national debt. But every time they tried to change it, Harry Reid was able to defend SNPLMA — and, in recent years, (it’s been) the entire Nevada delegation, Republicans and Democrats.
(Edited for length and clarity.)
