Nevada naval air base expansion heads to Biden's desk
RENO, Nev. (AP) — The U.S. Senate has voted for a massive expansion of a northern Nevada naval air base that could lead to finalizing a historic transfer of public land to military use.
The Senate on Thursday approved as part of the annual defense spending bill what is likely to be one of the final steps in yearslong negotiations to designate 558,000 additional acres (about 226,000 hectares) for bombing and military use to the Naval Air Station (NAS) Fallon 65 miles (104 kilometers) east of Reno.
The measure also designates more than 580,000 acres of land for conservation, wilderness areas and other protected areas, as well as 18,000 total acres of land (about 7,284 hectares) and $20 million each to two Native American tribes. Rural Churchill County will also receive $20 million.
The Fallon training complex is the Navy’s main aviation training range, supporting aviation and ground training, including live-fire training. All naval strike aviation units and some Navy SEALS train at Fallon before deployment.
The House approved the National Defense Authorization Act last week. It now awaits President Joe Biden’s signature.
The management of Nevada’s vast swaths of federal land, and the differing needs it serves, has long been a push-and-pull for different groups in Nevada that has resulted in legal battles over lithium mining, development, national monuments and endangered species designations. The naval air base expansion has been under consideration for years as Nevada’s congressional delegation has introduced it time and again with a balancing act for different groups’ interests: the Navy, conservationists, local counties and Native American tribes who have long seen the land as sacred.
The expansion will “improve our national security, fuel economic growth in...
