Group to hold anti-fracking rally ahead of scheduled auctions

LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — More than 100,000 acres of federal land in Southern Nevada won’t be auctioned on Tuesday as planned.

The acres near East Morman Mountain were targeted for gas and oil drilling leases. Pushback is coming from the City of Mesquite, The Moapa Band of Paiutes, The Sierra Club and local business groups who say the move could pollute a major water supply for Southern Nevada.

By law, the state is required to offer lands for oil and gas leasing. Oil companies lease the land, extract the oil or gas and then return it to the public. The land in question sits within a basin that provides the main source of drinking water for more than 20,000 people in Mesquite and Bunkerville.

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On Friday, Mesquite Mayor Al Litman, The Moapa Band of Paiutes, and The Sierra Club held a press conference, demanding the Bureau of Land Management take the land out of the auction. They were supported by Clark County Commissioner, Marilyn Kirkpatrick, and Senator Catherine Cortez Masto.

One representative from the Sierra Club tells News 3 that while getting this one auction deferred is a victory, there is still more work to be done. In Nevada, 93 percent of the proposed leases are in water-threatened areas.

"The water that drains into the Virgin River valley eventually drains into Lake Mead, where we get our drinking water. Any sort of development would have put that at risk. said Christian Gerlach with the Sierra Club. "Now for December, coming up next month, some 200 to 300 thousand acres are on the chopping block for those same areas that drain out through the Virgin River Valley, the Meadow Valley Wash, all out to Lake Mead.

The BLM says the 100,000 acres near Mesquite will be deferred from auctions until further review. The group plans to hold a rally at 3:30 on Friday at a parking lot near the Del Taco on Rancho Dr. Then march to the BLM offices on Torrey Pines in protest of the future auctions.