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NORA Proposal - Senate Bill 59 10 



acre BLM parcel immediately northwest of the present ACEC as well 

 as the current acreage since the additional acreage also contains 

 many of the unique features and endangered Steamboat buckwheat 

 ( Eriogonum ovalifolium var. williamsiae ) . The area immediately 

 east of the proposed 80 acre ACEC and extending to US Highway 395 

 is also an extremely sensitive area, currently in private 

 ownership, which should be acquired if possible. The concept of 

 ACEC ' s as defined in The Federal Lands Management and Policy Act 

 of 1976 (Public Law 94-579) has been endorsed by all Nevada 

 counties. The proposed Steamboat Springs Congressional ACEC is an 

 impressive candidate for ACEC protection and would receive 

 strong public support. 



Additionally, private and local public interests could be 

 impacted by the proposed interchange. Chevron, in concert with 

 others, is developing a KGRA (Known Geothermal Resource Area) 

 about a mile from the ACEC, part of which is on acreage proposed 

 for transfer to the USPS. This can only add an additional layer 

 of complexity for them in managing their development, since they 

 will then have to deal with the USES on all matters relating to 

 the surface, but still deal with the BLM on all matters relating 

 to the sub-surface. Furthermore, the BLM would still have 

 jurisdiction over the development of the KGRA under The 

 Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 (Public Law 91-681) . Far from 

 relieving the developers from governmental constraint, the 

 transfer could create a nightmare for the developers in which the 

 two federal agencies acting in their several capacities could, 

 and very well may, demand contradictory and mutually exclusive 

 actions of the developer, effectively precluding development. 



The Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) has a long 

 range program to improve US Highway 395 to freeway standards with 

 control of access throughout its length in Nevada. A relocation 

 of 395 between Winters Ranch and the connection to 1-580 at South 

 Virginia Street in Reno has been proposed and tentatively 

 scheduled for construction in the years 2001 to 2003. (This may 

 seem a long way off but it is only 15 years away.) This 

 realignment, referred to as the "S" alignment in the EIS 

 (NDOT 1984) , would follow the general alignment of the existing 

 US 395, between Mt. Rose Highway and Pleasant Valley along the 

 eastern slope of Steamboat Hills, approximately 3/4 mile west of 

 the existing alignment. This is in the immediate area of the 

 Steamboat Springs ACEC and the KGRA development. The proposed 

 realignment along the entire length of US 395 would have two 

 major effects. First, it would again introduce another federal 

 agency into the planing process creating potential problems. 

 Second, the proposed general realignment along the entire length 

 of US 395 would destroy the desirfed symmetry of having each 

 agency control one side of the highway. Thus in a scant 15 years 

 or less the supposed efficiencies, if they ever existed, would be 

 lost. 



