Sloan Canyon Bill Expands Conservation Area by 9,000 Acres, Grants Free Pipeline Rights-of-Way to Water Authority

This legislation, the Sloan Canyon Conservation and Lateral Pipeline Act, is essentially a two-for-one deal for land use in Clark County, Nevada. On one hand, it’s a major win for conservation, and on the other, it’s a significant streamlining of infrastructure development. The bill’s main purpose is to clear the path for the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) to build a new lateral water pipeline while simultaneously expanding the protected Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area.

The Pipeline Corridor: What’s Being Built and Where

To get the pipeline built, the bill immediately withdraws about 1,200 acres of federal land from public land laws, including mineral leasing and mining. Think of this as fencing off a specific area so the government can dedicate it solely to the pipeline project. Within this withdrawn land, the bill designates a 200-foot-wide corridor for the SNWA to construct, operate, and maintain the pipeline and all its associated infrastructure. If you’re in the mining or resource exploration business, this is a clear signal that this specific piece of land is now off-limits for good. For everyone else, it’s the government prioritizing critical water infrastructure over potential resource extraction on that specific parcel (SEC. 1).

Free Access for the Water Authority

Here’s where the bill grants some serious privileges to the Southern Nevada Water Authority. The Secretary of the Interior is required to grant the SNWA specific rights-of-way for temporary and permanent water pipeline infrastructure outside the Conservation Area’s boundaries—and they have to do this without payment of rents or other charges (SEC. 3). Basically, the federal government is giving the water authority a free pass to use federal land for their infrastructure, which includes pipelines, powerlines, facilities, and access roads. While this certainly helps keep costs down for the SNWA, potentially benefiting rate payers, it’s a direct subsidy of public land use. The bill also lets the SNWA excavate and dispose of materials from pipeline tunneling without charge, though the Secretary and the SNWA must agree on where to dump those materials within 30 days of granting the rights-of-way.

A Bigger, But Not Untouchable, Conservation Area

In a major move, the bill expands the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area by over 9,000 acres, increasing its total size from 48,438 acres to 57,728 acres (SEC. 3). That’s a significant chunk of land being added to protected status. However, this expansion comes with several caveats. First, the expansion does not prevent authorized activities within existing utility corridors. If there’s already a power line or gas line running through the newly protected area, they can continue to operate, maintain, and even replace their facilities. Second, while the pipeline infrastructure granted to the SNWA must not be located through or under any designated wilderness area, the Secretary is allowed to include reasonable terms to protect Conservation Area resources. Crucially, the bill only requires that pipeline construction must not “permanently harm” the surface resources of the Conservation Area (SEC. 3). This means temporary, potentially significant disruption is still on the table during the construction phase. For environmental groups, the expansion is great news, but the free pass for infrastructure and the allowance for temporary harm during construction will be the details to watch.