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AD HOC COMMITTEE ON AEROJET NEVADA 



105 Palm Lane 

 Las Vegas, NV 89101 



June 12, 1987 



The Honorable Dale Bumpers, Chairman 

 Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands 

 U.S. Senate 308 Dirksen Bldg. 

 Washington, D.C. 20510 



Dear Senator Bumpers: 



We are deeply concerned about the Nevada/Florida land 

 exchange being proposed by Aerojet General and the Department of 

 Interior with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service serving as the 

 lead agency. 



The proposed exchange - 51,710 acres of public land in 

 Nevada for approximately 4,660 acres of Florida land owned by 

 Aerojet - is now before Congress as the "Nevada-Florida Land 

 Exchange Authorization Act of 1987," presented as identical 

 bills, S.B. 854 and H.R. 1845. 



The Nevada lands involve two parcels: 8,900 acres in 

 Garfield Flat and 42,810 acres in Coyote Springs Valley. Our 

 concerns relate to the significance of the exchange to the 

 Federal Government and to Nevada, and the impact it could have on 

 the environmentally sensitive acreage in Coyote Spring Valley. 

 We will identify the problems, as we see them, in general terms 

 And present detailed information, photos and maps supporting 

 these statements in separate enclosures. 



(1) The appraisal of the public lands in Nevada identified 

 for exchange is grossly under fair market value and therefore 

 violates the vaUie-f or-value rule that the BLM is obligated to 

 pursue in all land exchanges. We view this as an attempt to 

 shortchange the public. 



(2) The DOI and Aerojet in selecting Coyote Spring Valley 

 for a rocket assembly and testing facility picked one of the most 

 environmentally sensitive and significant areas in southern 

 Nevada. Such an operation would have a major impact, probably to 

 the degree of an outright threat, to several endangered, 

 candidate and sensitive species of wildlife, especially the 

 desert tortoise. 



(3) The handling and disposal of toxic waste has been given 

 only superficial attention. Aerojet has said that some of the 

 liquid waste would be sprayed on the ground after treatment. 

 This could pose a threat to vegetation and wildlife. If any 

 waste is injected into the ground it could contaminate the 



