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Air Force, fossil fans say hold power line
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JOHN LOCHER/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Fossilized mammoth bones lie Wednesday on the surface of Upper Las Vegas Wash near Tule Springs on the northern outskirts of the Las Vegas Valley. Power lines in the background cross an area proposed for a national monument. » Buy this photo
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LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
With their fossilized bones poking from the chalky, beige soil, the animals that roamed what is now the Mojave Desert during the ice ages lie quietly where they died, unaware of civilization growing toward the edge of their graves.
Instead of lush plants that Columbian mammoths would munch while standing knee-deep in bubbling springs, the landscape is dotted with shrubs: creosote, buckwheat and bearpoppy plants.
Helicopters routinely thunder overhead on training missions from Nellis Air Force Base to the range near Creech Air Force Base, 45 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
The helicopters skirt a safe distance over power transmission lines that transect the 23,000-acre area conservationists hope to protect.
To the south, the sprawl of the Las Vegas Valley ends in frontage roads and dead-end streets.
To the north, the view is a raw stretch of the Mojave that flanks Desert National Wildlife Refuge, climbing to the chiseled ridges of the Sheep Mountains.
It is that view, as much as the undisturbed soil of the prehistoric cemetery, that Protectors of Tule Springs and the National Parks Conservation Association want to keep for tourists to see and for scientists to study. They expect the Nevada delegation to introduce a bill preserving the Upper Las Vegas Wash as a national monument when Congress reconvenes .
The U.S. Air Force also favors monument status, which would block construction of an NV Energy-proposed power line that would carry electricity from Amargosa Valley solar projects but also present a hazard to helicopters and low-flying warplanes.
"The way we see it, this is an opportunity to preserve two national treasures, one on the ground and the other in the air," said Deborah MacNeill, director of public partnerships for Nellis and Creech.
With dozens of renewable energy projects planned beneath the 12,000-square-mile airspace for the 2.9 million-acre Nevada Test and Training Range, the Air Force held an informational forum last month.
They wanted to let land managers and the renewable energy industry know that glare from mirrors and solar towers, and radar images from whirling wind turbines can interfere with aircraft navigation and targeting.
A new, higher-elevation transmission line across the proposed national monument site would further complicate matters, they say.
"It just seems like we're asking for a tragic accident," MacNeill said on a visit to the site last week.
Afterward, the North Las Vegas City Council authorized the city attorney to intervene in any action before the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada concerning NV Energy's transmission line.
In a statement Friday, NV Energy officials said they will continue to work with local governments and national monument proponents.
"The utility's current proposal allows for the co-existence of both the national monument area and NV Energy's transmission lines, while minimizing the impact to valuable resources in the Upper Las Vegas Wash," said Chelsie Campbell, senior representative for NV Energy's corporate communications.
She said the transmission lines are critical for solar development in the Amargosa Valley "and for future access to renewable resources along the western part of the state."
The lines would parallel ones already in place.
Lynn Davis, Nevada field office manager for the National Parks Conservation Association, said she hopes NV Energy's last-minute request will be dismissed by Sept. 13 so that national monument legislation can be introduced in the House and Senate.
Davis said if NV Energy is allowed to proceed, work would have to halt every time crews come across fossils from mammoths, North American jaguars, camels, bison, bears, sloths and other ancient animals in order to conduct costly and time-consuming paleontological digs.
Hundreds of fossils were documented when three-dozen poles were installed for the existing transmission line.
"You can expect that could be tied up for years," Davis said. "NV Energy predicts six to 10 years to build transmission lines, and during that time you'd be up here watching bulldozers."
A better alternative would be a transmission line along the Las Vegas Beltway, she said.
Tule Springs captured international acclaim in 1962, when scientists uncovered a variety of ancient animal fossils dating from 11,000 to 40,000 years ago.
Later studies indicated some fossils in the area might be 200,000 years old.
Researchers now hope the rich fossil beds will yield clues to climate change and arid conditions that might have helped cause the demise of the mammoth.
Contact reporter Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308.
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I guess the folks at NV Energy just don't get it, or they just don't care....I suspect it's the latter. We have a world-class site in our backyard that many local citizens representing diverse groups, including Nellis Air Force Base, have worked for years to protect, and NV Energy comes in at the last minute with plans to despoil it. The socioeconomic benefits to southern NV of this national monument will be outstanding, not to mention all the jobs it will create, such as developing the infrastructure. Since there are other alternatives for the construction of this transmission line, it appears NV Energy is being incredibly selfish. Shame on them!
There seem to be many comments about what NV Energy can and cannot do with regards to proposed power lines in this park area but there is very little in the way of comments about any alternatives...and I'll bet there are alternatives. Why not seek those possibilities instead of more eyesores to mar the beautiful sweep of the upper Las Vegas Wash.
That's right. The Air Force would blow any radar interference off the earth. Practicing at the training range here is close to the real thing, but can't blow up infrastructure needed here. There, anything goes.
Someone went over there and spread some chicken bones around and now the world has to stop spinning on its axis.
Oh give me a break. In "real world" war situations they would blow the solar towers and wind turbines out of existence. Here, that would be frowned on.
"..glare from mirrors and solar towers, and radar images from whirling wind turbines can interfere with aircraft navigation and targeting." Does that mean that the Air Force will NEVER have to go to a region in the world that has solar mirrors or wind turbines? Just what kind of training to these pilots get if they are not faced with real world situations?
The upper Las Vegas Wash is the last great place for conservation in the Las Vegas Valley. It is home to an internationally recognized assemblage of ice-age fossiles, as well as imperiled species such as the desert tortoise and Las Vegas bear poppy and buckwheat.
It deserves the protection a national monument would afford it. The presence of yet another set of highly visible transmission lines would severely detract from and impact the quality of such a monument.
NV Energy has alternative routes. For the most part they just don't want to play nice with other providers such as Valley Electric which could run the lines needed to access the renewable energy projects of the Amargosa Valley in already designated BLM energy corridors along the west side of the Spring Mountains.
Wouldn't having combat aircraft deal with power lines glare from mirrors and solar towers plus distorted radar images from wind turbines be considered realistic training?
We need those jobs in Pahrump. If Valley Electric can do this, then do it. Forget NV Energy and their greed! Why isn't Senator Reid getting behind this Pahrump route? Who does he answer to anyway?
NV Energy's insistence of a transmission corridor that cuts across the hillside of the new national monument is, quite frankly, driven by the company's pursuit of corporate profits. Their demand doesn't consider the community support that has been generated nor the projected economic benefits of having a national park unit within such close proximity to Las Vegas. In July this year, the public utilities commission (which governs NV Energy) REJECTED NV Energy's request for a transmission line in the area based on several considerations. NV Energy has chosen to ignore that ruling, disrepecting the thorough review of the public utilities commission. Creating a national monument is something we can all be proud about. We dishonor this priviledge by considering NV Energy's eyesore.