HR-618-119
Became Public Law No: 119-24.
Sponsored by Steven Horsford (D-NV)
What it does
This law transfers utility and transportation rights-of-way within the Apex Site in Clark County, Nevada from the Department of the Interior to the city of North Las Vegas and the Apex Industrial Park Owners Association. It requires Interior to grant rights-of-way for connecting existing electric, water, natural gas, telephone, railroad, and highway facilities to the Kerr-McGee site and surrounding lands. Any future land transfers within the Apex Site must comply with applicable federal land laws, and the federal land withdrawal status of all transferred lands continues in perpetuity.
Who benefits
The city of North Las Vegas, which gains legal access rights to support infrastructure development. The Apex Industrial Park Owners Association and its member businesses, which gain rights-of-way needed to connect utilities and transportation to their properties. Heavy industrial companies seeking to develop or expand operations at the Apex Site. Construction and infrastructure contractors who would be hired to build or extend utility connections. Clark County broadly, through potential economic development and tax base expansion from industrial activity.
Who is hurt
Environmental and conservation groups concerned about expanded heavy industrial use near federal public lands. Nearby residents who may face increased industrial traffic, noise, or pollution from expanded development at a site designated for industries that generate hazardous materials. The Department of the Interior, which loses administrative control over these rights-of-way. Taxpayers who may bear costs if federal land management or environmental oversight of the site requires future remediation, given the site's history with Kerr-McGee, a company associated with radioactive contamination at other locations.
Supporters argue
Supporters argue that this law corrects a long-standing administrative gap left by the 1989 Apex Project Act, which authorized industrial land use at the Apex Site but did not provide the legal rights-of-way necessary to actually connect utilities and transportation infrastructure. They contend that without these rights-of-way, development of a designated industrial zone is effectively blocked, preventing job creation and economic growth in the North Las Vegas area. The transfer is narrowly scoped to existing infrastructure corridors and does not change the site's land use designation or federal withdrawal status.
Opponents argue
Opponents argue that transferring rights-of-way to a private industrial association for a site designated for hazardous materials industries expands industrial access to federal lands without a full environmental review process. They contend that the Kerr-McGee name on the site raises legitimate concerns — Kerr-McGee is associated with radioactive and chemical contamination at other sites nationally — and that facilitating infrastructure connections could accelerate development before adequate environmental safeguards are in place. The perpetual withdrawal condition, while retained, does not address potential contamination risks from expanded industrial operations.
Constitutional context
Congress has broad authority over federal lands under the Property Clause (Art. IV, §3, cl. 2), which grants Congress the power to dispose of and make rules for federal territory. No active constitutional tension is implicated here, as this is a targeted, congressionally directed land transfer rather than an agency rulemaking — meaning post-Loper Bright and major questions doctrine concerns do not apply.
Checks and balances
Congress directs the transfer, giving the executive branch (Department of the Interior) a ministerial role in issuing the rights-of-way; future transfers remain subject to applicable federal land laws, preserving some ongoing federal oversight.
Historical precedent
The Nevada Land Transfer and Authorization Act of 1989 originally authorized the Apex Site land arrangement; this law amends that act to address rights-of-way that were not resolved in the original legislation.