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Amodei Reintroduces Northern Nevada Economic Development and Conservation Act of 2023

May 10, 2023

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Mark Amodei (NV-02) reintroduced the Northern Nevada Economic Development and Conservation Act, legislation which will allow for the conveyance of federal lands to Douglas County, Pershing County, Carson City, the City of Fernley, the City of Sparks, and the Incline Village General Improvement District (IVIGD) for public purposes and economic development.

Additionally, this bill designates nearly 150,000 acres of wilderness in northern Nevada and removes the possibility of oil and gas leasing in over 300,000 acres of the Ruby Mountains of Elko County. This represents over 450,000 acres of land given conservation protections, compared to the less than 40,000 acres identified for development.

Of this legislation, Amodei said, “In Nevada, everybody recognizes the importance of striking the right balance between our state’s development and conservation needs. The Northern Nevada Economic Development and Conservation Act does just that and I’m grateful to the city and county officials, business leaders, and others with boots on the ground who provided the input necessary to craft this critical legislation. I remain committed to seeing it pass the House this year, which will hopefully give the Senate enough time to do its job.”

The full text of the bill can be found here.

A section-by-section breakdown of the bill can be found here.

BACKGROUND:

A similar version of this legislation was previously introduced in the 117th Congress as H.R. 5243, the Northern Nevada Economic Development, Conservation, and Military Modernization Act.

This legislation’s provisions to expand and modernize the Navy’s Fallon Range Training Complex (FRTC) in Churchill County and Lander County’s lands bill were included in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2023, which passed Congress and was signed into law last December.