Nev. needs Congress’ OK to do anything with its land
By Amber Phillips, Las Vegas Sun
WASHINGTON — With one week to go before a five-week summer break, Nevada’s lawmakers are doing what they can do to push through agendas they’ve been working on all year.
Rep. Mark Amodei claimed one of the delegation’s first victories of the week when the House of Representatives passed the Northern Nevada Republican’s bill signaling the end of a decade-old water dispute near Reno between the the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe and a ranch that wants to expand.
The details are wonky, but it underscores the fact Nevadans need congressional approval to do pretty much anything with the state’s land. The bill is expected to pass the Senate and become law.
Nevada’s House delegation also teamed up with Florida lawmakers — two states with economies that rely heavily on tourism — to support a bill that passed the House to encourage tourism to America. The bill has the support of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., so it may have a chance of actually becoming law.
“but it underscores the fact Nevadans need congressional approval to do pretty much anything with the state’s land.”
The reporter is an idiot and should be fired.
A ranch wants water rights and it is water in the Pyramid Lake watershed. The Paiute noted that the water extraction could affect Pyramid Lake water levels, so they sued. Well $7.2 million and a couple thousand acres of land later and the Paiute dropped their suite.
Problem, the Paiute are a sovereign nation, and disputes between countries end up in federal court, not state court, so, get Congress to accept the deal and its all good….well except the lake level….