Today, the Nevada Assembly passed legislation that urges President Trump and the Congress to sign off on a federal plan to create urban sprawl from the Las Vegas Valley to Primm by selling off tens of thousands of acres of public land in Southern Nevada. The 36-6 vote on the resolution follows pleas from Republican Governor Joe Lombardo to sell off federal lands and comes at a time when President Donald Trump is urging the same.
The proposal, AJR10, never had a hearing before lawmakers took the floor vote today, despite the language referencing the need for comprehensive “public input” on matters relating to public land sales. The resolution now moves to the Nevada Senate.
In recent years, the push for federally-backed public land sales has been controversial because of its impact to water, air pollution, urban heat, cost of living, utility bills, and because it would not actually create or preserve affordable housing.
AJR10 alludes to a longstanding effort by Senator Catherine Cortez Masto known as the Southern Nevada Economic Development and Conservation Act (SNEDCA) — legislation enabling more public land sales near Las Vegas. SNEDCA has been a hot-button issue in Nevada since 2017, raising questions about an influx of population, greater demands for water, higher prices for utilities, and other impacts to the quality of life in the region.
AJR10, sponsored by Majority Floor Leader Sandra Jauregui, mentions a “housing crisis” in Nevada. But the legislation makes no mention of how selling off public lands will guarantee affordable housing in the state. Further, in December of 2024, RTC Southern Nevada released the results of a study that found tens of thousands of acres of infill available in Las Vegas Valley, Henderson, and Mesquite, further demonstrating that our public lands do not need to be sold off for housing development.
Senator Cortez-Mato’s bill will allow for approximately 30,000 acres of land to be sold. A current provision under federal law allows the Bureau of Land Management to sell off select lands in Southern Nevada. Currently, there are more than 20,000 acres available for auction that were approved by Congress years ago. But lawmakers in Clark County, State government, and Congress want BLM to release more without much consideration of the consequences. For years, the Sierra Club and Great Basin Water Network have raised concerns about the plight of existing residents who are managing higher costs of living, skyrocketing utility bills, heavy traffic, and uncertainty about water availability.
“Lake Mead is hovering at one-third full, uncertainty is running rampant at all levels of government, and Assembly leaders are begging Donald Trump to sign sprawl bills that will rapidly expand the population and demands on Southern Nevada’s resources,” said Kyle Roerink, executive director of Great Basin Water Network. “There are better things to do than kowtow to developers that want a federal land feeding frenzy.”
“Make no mistake, more urban sprawl is bad for our community,” said Vinny Spotleson, Chair of the Sierra Club’s Toiyabe Chapter. “This resolution, and the federal bill it supports, does nothing to guarantee affordable housing, but it will waste billions of gallons of water and create more air pollution.”
