Sloan Canyon Conservation and Lateral Pipeline Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Sloan Canyon Conservation and Lateral Pipeline Act updates the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area map and expands the area from 48,438 acres to 57,728 acres. At the same time, it directs the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Bureau of Land Management, to grant Southern Nevada Water Authority temporary and permanent rights-of-way for the Horizon lateral water pipeline, related powerline, facilities, and access roads.
Who Benefits and How
Southern Nevada Water Authority benefits because it receives the required pipeline and related infrastructure rights-of-way within one year and without paying rents or other charges. Southern Nevada water consumers benefit indirectly from water-transmission infrastructure, and public recreation users benefit from the expansion of the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area and the continued bar on routing the pipeline through or under wilderness areas.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The Bureau of Land Management bears implementation duties to issue the rights-of-way, negotiate a materials-disposal memorandum of understanding within 30 days after the grant, and enforce conservation-area conditions. Southern Nevada Water Authority receives valuable access but must comply with terms protecting Conservation Area resources, avoiding permanent adverse surface-resource effects, honoring valid existing rights, and staying out of wilderness areas.
Key Provisions
- Replaces the 2002 Sloan Canyon map with the May 20, 2024 Proposed Sloan Canyon Expansion map.
- Raises the statutory acreage for Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area from 48,438 to 57,728 acres.
- Requires BLM to grant Southern Nevada Water Authority temporary and permanent Horizon lateral pipeline rights-of-way within one year.
- Waives rents and other charges for the water pipeline, related powerline, facility, and access road rights-of-way.
- Allows Southern Nevada Water Authority to excavate, use, or dispose of tunneling material without payment, subject to a BLM memorandum of understanding.
- Preserves valid existing rights and existing utility corridors and bars the pipeline route from crossing through or under wilderness.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Expands the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area in Nevada from 48,438 to 57,728 acres while requiring the Bureau of Land Management to grant Southern Nevada Water Authority rent-free rights-of-way for the Horizon lateral water pipeline and related facilities under conservation-protection conditions.
Key Policy Areas
Public Lands, Water Infrastructure, Conservation, Utilities
Primary Purpose
Expands the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area in Nevada from 48,438 to 57,728 acres while requiring the Bureau of Land Management to grant Southern Nevada Water Authority rent-free rights-of-way for the Horizon lateral water pipeline and related facilities under conservation-protection conditions.
Policy Domains
Sloan Canyon expansion and Horizon lateral pipeline right-of-way
Identified Gains
- Southern Nevada Water Authority
- Southern Nevada water consumers
- Sloan Canyon recreation users
- Public land conservation advocates
Identified Costs
- Bureau of Land Management
- Secretary of the Interior
- Federal land managers
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
Signed into LawBecame Public Law No: 119-91.
Signed by President.
Presented to President.
Message on Senate action sent to the House.
Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources discharged by Unanimous …
Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S697-699)
Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous …
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy …
Passed House (inferred from eh version)
Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Southern Nevada Water Authority, Southern Nevada Water Authority pipeline construction program, Southern Nevada water consumers
Positive-direction: Southern Nevada Water Authority, Southern Nevada water consumers
Negative-direction: Southern Nevada Water Authority pipeline construction program
Bureau of Land Management Sloan Canyon program
Utility transmission corridor operators
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_authority"
- → Southern Nevada Water Authority
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of the Interior acting through the Director of the Bureau of Land Management
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Southern Nevada Water Authority, the entity receiving the Horizon lateral pipeline rights-of-way.
The Secretary of the Interior acting through the Director of the Bureau of Land Management.
The Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology