LAS VEGAS -- A coalition of local governments, agencies and conservation groups have come together to try and create an Ice Age park in the northwest part of the Las Vegas valley.
Tule Springs in the upper Las Vegas Wash is a unique site, brimming with pre-historic fossils. But now that coalition says they are facing a new threat -- NV Energy wants to build a second row of power lines down in the area.
Paleontologist Eric Scott gets understandably excited as he shows off his latest find -- a 16,000-year-old mammoth tusk.
"We have found some really spectacular fossils," he said. "The dirt you walked over to get here has fossils in it. You could literally have been inches away from sabertooth cats, from bison's, from horses, from mammoths, from mastodons."
Dr. Scott is in charge of finding and preserving the tens of thousands of Ice Age fossils that punctuate the ancient dirt around Tule Springs. The fossils cover a span of 200,000 years, a claim no other spot in the southwest United States can make. Scott says studying Tule Springs could provide clues about what killed off the mammoths and other species.
In a nearly unprecedented display of co-operation, the cities of North Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Clark County, the United States Air Force, the Paiute Tribe and conservation groups have all agreed that they want to protect the site by making it an Ice Age park. The park would be a dig site for scientists, a learning center for students and a museum for tourists.
NV Energy has been supportive of fossil research ever since piles of old bones were uncovered by workers who installed the huge transmission lines that traverse one side and then cut across the fossil-rich site. The power company supports the idea for an Ice Age park, but wants to make sure Nevada will be able to take full advantage of renewable energy resources, meaning sacrifices will have to be made.
Department of Energy Letter
Government Affairs Liaison Edgar Patino says Nevada's power system needs more reliability, meaning a second set of transmission lines that would run on the opposite side of the wash, essentially surrounding the proposed park with power poles.
"They say the boundary on Moccasin isn't really cutting through the park. Well, it is cutting through the park. If you are standing at the fossil site with the mammoth, right there just north of Sun City Aliante, and you look up at the Las Vegas range, what do you see? You don't know where the potential monument stops and the Desert National Wildlife Refuge starts. Well, if we put two huge sets of powerlines out there, now you will and any visitor on the North Las Vegas side of this new national monument will be surrounded on all four sides by these power lines," said park proponent Jill DeStefano. "Why would any tourists want to come here and be surrounded by power lines?"
Lynn Davis with the National Parks Conservation Association Office believes another set of lines would destroy the park's scenic value.
Read a letter to Lynn Davis from NV Energy
"There is something about our national park system that preserves scenic qualities, and you don't want that scenic quality disturbed. Let me put it this way, you wouldn't hang solar panels off the Statue of Liberty, you would look for an alternative," said Davis.
"One of the things we can do is play with the color of the poles. That would be one example. Another example would be to use non-reflective line which doesn't reflect off the sun and minimizes the visual impact," said Patino.
What really irks Davis and others is the way NV Energy has gone about seeking approval for a second transmission line. When the Public Utilities Commission turned down the proposal pending more information about possible alternatives, the power company went to Nevada's congressional delegation for help.
See NV Energy's plans
"What we are seeking is a future corridor that would co-exist with this national monument boundary," said Patino. "We are asking for participation with the congressional delegation for something like that."
Patino says he knows of no other time NV Energy has gone to Congress to ask for legislation on a transmission line.
The cities of North Las Vegas and Las Vegas accuse NV Energy of going behind their backs instead of presenting them with alternatives. North Las Vegas has asked its city attorney to fight any bill that approves a new power corridor through the wash.
NV Energy says any alternative route for the lines would cost rate-payers hundreds of millions dollars more.
"We believe it is a difficult position for the congressional delegation. There is a big interest in what we can do for renewable power and there is great interest in getting jobs out of our development for renewable power. We believe NV Energy is taking unfair advantage of that interest," said Davis.
At this point, no official legislation either for the park or for the new power lines has gone through Congress. Conservationists working on saving the area say they have commissioned a private study to determine possible alternative places to put a power line.They are expecting to release that in the next couple of days.
