S. 2042, Sloan Canyon Conservation and Lateral Pipeline Act
As reported by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on December 20, 2023
By Fiscal Year, Millions of Dollars
2024
2024-2029
2024-2034
Direct Spending (Outlays)
*
*
*
Revenues
0
0
0
Increase or Decrease (-) in the Deficit
*
*
*
Spending Subject to Appropriation (Outlays)
0
0
0
Increases net direct spending in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2035?
No
Statutory pay-as-you-go procedures apply?
Yes
Mandate Effects
Increases on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2035?
No
Contains intergovernmental mandate?
No
Contains private-sector mandate?
No
* = between -$500,000 and zero.
Summary
S. 2042 would expand the Sloan Canyon National Conservation area in Nevada by about 9,000 acres, subject to valid existing rights. The bill also would direct the Department of the Interior (DOI) to grant the Southern Nevada Water Authority rights-of-way for the construction and operation of a water pipeline and related facilities within and outside the conservation area. The rights-of-way would be provided at no cost to the water authority, subject to environmental laws, and would include the right to excavate and dispose of sand, gravel, and other materials resulting from building the water infrastructure project.
The public land that would be added to the conservation area and used for the rights-of-way is currently withdrawn from mineral leasing, and any recreational activities that currently take place would not be affected; thus, under the bill the federal government would not forgo any receipts from those activities.
Using information from DOI, CBO estimates that the department would collect about $90,000 in fees from the water authority for a required analysis of potential effects on endangered species in the area. Those fees are recorded in the federal budget as offsetting receipts, that is as reductions in direct spending, and would be available to spend without further appropriation for land management activities within the conservation area. On that basis, CBO estimates that enacting the bill would have a negligible effect on net direct spending over the 2024-2034 period.
