Federal lands bill offers local benefits

By Stephanie Tavares

Friday, April 10, 2009 | 2 a.m.

The latest federal lands bill recently passed by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama includes numerous benefits for Southern Nevada.

To start, the bill gives Republic Services access to about 10 acres of the Sunrise Mountain instant study area near Sunrise Landfill.

The company needs access to the two five-acre parcels to build the necessary cap for the landfill.

The bill does not provide any money for the project, which is about $36 million short of funds.

Republic Services agreed in 1999 to pay for the capping of the landfill, up to $36 million, in exchange for a 15-year extension of its contract.

The garbage hauler has already spent $30 million on the project’s planning stages. Another $36 million is needed to complete the work, which the Environmental Protection Agency ordered the company to start last summer.

The company has twice sought rate increases on commercial and residential service to fund the remaining costs of capping of the landfill. However, those requests have been blocked by the Clark County Commission.

The funding issue has yet to be resolved.

Other land acquisitions meant to benefit Southern Nevada include:

• The release of a small section of the Sunrise Mountain instant study area for the construction of a flood control project.

• Eighty acres for expansion of the Nevada Cancer Institute to include a facility devoted to developing new cancer treatments.

• The transfer of Bureau of Land Management land near Henderson’s airport to the city for commercial development and an urban green space.

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The Natural Resources Defense Council, the National Audubon Society and Google.org have launched a new Google Earth project that will give users instant access to wildlife, habitat and land management maps.

The Path to Green Energy project is supported by Google.org Geo Challenge grants and is meant to educate residents, environmentalists, policymakers, renewable-energy developers and other interested parties about habitat and wildlife in areas considered for renewable-power generation and transmission facilities.

The project provides maps of 13 Western states, including Nevada. It will help users identify areas where land use is restricted and highlight areas that should be avoided for energy development because of environmental concerns.

For more information, log on to www.nrdc.org/land/sitingrenewables.

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The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, the Firm Public Relations and Marketing and SCORE are hosting a weekend version of their popular “Business Survival Boot Camp” at 9 a.m. April 18 at the chamber’s office in Town Square.

The boot camps are designed to educate business owners on how to survive and thrive in these challenging times.

Topics include cash-flow management, streamlining operations, creating a communications plan, adjusting business strategies and identifying customer needs.

For more information, log on to www.lvchamber.com.

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In Business Las Vegas and the Nevada division of the U.S. Small Business Administration are honoring the state’s top small-business people at a luncheon May 7 at the Orleans.

Honorees include:

• Rob Dorinson, president of Evergreen Recycling, who will be named small-business person of the year for Nevada.

• Mary A. Kerner, lending administrator of the Rural Nevada Development Corp. in Ely, who will be named financial services champion of the year for Region 9 (Guam, Hawaii, California, Nevada and Arizona).

• John Holliday, president of Aloha Medicinals in Carson City, who will be named small-business exporter of the year.

• Lisa McQuerrey, owner of Professional Writing Services in Henderson, who will be named microenterprise business person of the year.

• Janis Stevenson, business development adviser for the Nevada Small Business Development Center, who will be named minority small-business champion of the year.

• Shawn Lane, owner of Cheyenne Marketing in Las Vegas, who will be named home-based business champion of the year.

• Carrie Michelle Henderson, president of the BESTAgency in Las Vegas, who will be named women in business champion of the year.

The honorees are chosen by an independent panel of small-business leaders on criteria such as staying power, growth in number of employees, increase in sales, current and past financial reports, innovation of product or service, response to adversity, evidence of contributions to community-oriented projects and small-business advocacy.

Tickets to the luncheon are $55. Tables cost $500. Individual ticket sales come with a complimentary one-year subscription to In Business Las Vegas.

For more information, call 990-2545.

For more information, call 990-2545. Stephanie Tavares covers utilities and law for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. She can be reached at 259-4059 or at [email protected].