[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 77 (Monday, June 19, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5361-S5362]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. REID:
  S. 2750. A bill to direct the Administrator of the Environmental 
Protection

[[Page S5362]]

Agency, the Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of Agriculture, and 
the Secretary of the Interior to participate constructively in the 
implementation of the Las Vegas Wash Wetland Restoration and Lake Mead 
Water Quality Improvement Project, Nevada; to the Committee on 
Environment and Public Works.


    las vegas wash wetland restoration and lake mead water quality 
                        improvement act of 2000

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I am pleased to introduce today the Las 
Vegas Wash Wetland Restoration and Lake Mead Water Quality Improvement 
Act of 2000. This bill is important for Nevada's families and for the 
environment, because water is our most precious natural resource.
  My bill is the product of a visionary, locally-led initiative 
designed to develop and implement a plan that would enhance and protect 
water quality in the Las Vegas basin.
  Importantly, my bill would safeguard southern Nevada's water supply 
and improve the unique desert wetlands environment of the Las Vegas 
Wash.
  I would like to review some of the history that contributed to the 
development of this bill.
  In 1998, in response to a recommendation by a citizens' water quality 
advisory committee, the Las Vegas Wash Coordination Committee was 
formed to develop a comprehensive Adaptive Management Plan (AMP) for 
the Las Vegas Wash ecosystem.
  The AMP, which was developed by the Las Vegas Wash Coordinating 
Committee over the past two years and approved early this year by the 
Southern Nevada Water Authority, represents a vision for how local, 
State, and Federal stakeholders can work together to achieve shared 
water quality and ecosystem restoration goals in the Las Vegas basin.
  First and foremost, the AMP is a locally-driven strategy. The 
stakeholder working group, coordinated by the Southern Nevada Water 
Authority and comprised of 28 groups, contributed their varied 
perspectives and good ideas to the development of this plan.
  A draft of the AMP was published for public comment in October 1999. 
In January 2000, the Southern Nevada Water Authority finalized and 
approved the AMP.
  Chief among the recommendations in the AMP was the call for 
development of a partnership consisting of local, State, Federal 
agencies with interests in the Las Vegas Wash ecosystem.
  I view this plan as a Nevada solution to a tremendous local challenge 
of accelerated erosion and deteriorating water quality.
  I commend the local, State, and Federal stakeholders that helped 
create the AMP for their hard work, cooperation, and dedication to 
improving Southern Nevada's environment for Nevada's families today and 
for future generations.
  The Federal government, by virtue of its land ownership in Nevada and 
responsibilities at Lake Mead, has an obligation to help make the plan 
work.
  In addition, the Federal government is uniquely responsible for the 
perchlorate contamination which contributes to the groundwater 
contamination that pollutes Las Vegas Wash run-off.
  My bill directs the relevant Federal agencies to participate in 
efforts to restore Las Vegas Wash and protect Lake Mead's water 
quality. These agencies include: the Environmental Protection Agency, 
the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Reclamation, the National 
Park Service, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Fish and 
Wildlife Service, and the Army Corps of Engineers.
  I hope that the Senate will move quickly to consider and pass this 
bill so that Federal agencies can become full partners in the effort to 
rehabilitate and conserve the Las Vegas Wash desert ecosystem and to 
improve water quality in southern Nevada's most heavily used watershed.
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