A 6,500-acre swath of federally owned desert, 10
miles from California’s Mojave National Preserve, could become the
site of a new Las Vegas airport. But environmentalists and the
National Park Service say airport overflights will ruin the
preserve visitor’s experience.
“One of the really
special things about Mojave is the opportunity for solace and
quiet,” says Mary Martin, superintendent of the
preserve.
Clark County officials chose the site,
in part, because it is bordered by railroad cargo tracks on one
side and Interstate 15 on the other. They say the airport will be
used mostly by charter passenger planes and air cargo and won’t be
needed until 2012 at the earliest. But legislation requiring the
BLM to sell the land to the county, introduced by Nevada’s two
Democratic senators, Henry Reid and Richard Bryan, and Republican
Rep. Jim Gibbons of Nevada, has been approved by the House
Resources Committee.
If the county gets the nod
from Congress, critics worry the airport would become a done deal
with little public input. “By that time, you’re just dealing with
the minor issues,” says Martin.
Dennis Mewshaw,
the Clark County planner charged with overseeing the project,
admits there’s been little opportunity for the public to respond so
far, but says the airport is a long way from approval. The Federal
Aviation Administration and the county, says Mewshaw, still need to
conduct environmental studies and decide how to mitigate the
overflights.
Says Mewshaw, “I don’t think we
should say at all that the public won’t have a say.”
* Tim Westby
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Nonstop service to the Mojave Desert?.
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