The Southern Nevada Economic Development and Conservation Act is a shortsighted proposal that will not create much-needed affordable housing for Southern Nevada. The legislation was voted out of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources with a 13-6 vote under the 118th Congress. The process for getting this bill approved will need to start over during the 119th Congress.

This legislation, also known as the Southern Nevada Lands Bill, would allow 42,000 acres of public land in Southern Nevada to be sold to private developers for housing and business development. In addition, the bill would expand protections for nearly 2 million acres of land for conservation, outdoor recreation and cultural preservation purposes.

On the surface, this legislation could be considered one of the most aggressive acts in land use conservation and affordable housing development in recent history. However, underneath the shiny veneer of these land protections, this bill has a major problem: It enables an unprecedented amount of urban sprawl and, subsequently, further exacerbates the climate crisis.

To put it simply, urban sprawl is an inefficient use of precious resources. This legislation would extend well beyond Clark County’s urban growth boundary and would allow development into the vulnerable desert surrounding the Las Vegas Valley, which would compound the already dire land use patterns that force Las Vegans to be reliant on single-occupancy vehicles. Urban sprawl is a cyclical spiral that leads to habitat loss, increased carbon emissions, strain on public utilities and services and negative health impacts due to increased pollution.

While some may see the expansive desert as vast and empty land prime for real estate development, in reality the desert biome is one of the most fragile ecosystems in the world. Expansion of cities and towns into desert regions is the most pressing contributing factor to habitat loss. Encroachment into these sensitive areas isn’t good for humans, either.

This bill, which promises affordable housing without actually mandating it, would force residents to live far from their jobs and important amenities such as health care, grocery stores, schools, etc. Commuters who live far from these needs drive up carbon emissions with longer commutes, which increases the urban heat island effect. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a typical passenger vehicle emits about 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. With a ranking of 20 out of 204 metropolitan areas for worst annual particle pollution, Southern Nevada’s vulnerable populations such as people of color, people that live in poverty, people with pre-existing lung conditions will feel the effects the most. Marginalized communities are almost always disproportionately impacted by the environmental hazards urban sprawl causes.

Some would argue that electric vehicles are a solution to combating the emissions from single-occupancy vehicles. Although electric vehicles are a great alternative to gas powered vehicles, there are a whole host of other issues that come along with lithium mining. But, electric cars are not an end all be all solution. This solution ultimately still prioritizes building cities for cars rather than for people. Electric cars are the future of cars, not the future of our transit system.

Las Vegas is currently in the worst drought in recorded history, so much so that the secretary of the interior made the first-ever shortage declaration in 2021. Assembly Bill 356, which mandates that all nonfunctional turf in Southern Nevada must be replaced with more water-efficient landscaping, cannot make up for the exorbitant level of waste of freshwater resources that single-family homes have compared to multifamily dwellings on a per capita basis. Moreover, soils beneath our developed turf sites are often as impervious as roads and parking lots.

From light rail being voted down by the Regional Transportation Commission board, making Las Vegas the only major metropolitan city in the mountain West without any form of rail transit, to the Nevada Department of Transportation moving forward with the proposal to expand Interstate15, Las Vegas simply does not have the luxury to make another land use decision that would set sustainable urban growth back decades once again. This bill perpetuates the status quo of development, which has been proven many times to not work.

Las Vegans are experiencing the effects of climate change as we speak. With unprecedented levels of heat-related illness, air pollution and water shortage — if Las Vegas does not radically change the patterns of car-oriented and sprawled development now people will continue to suffer.

Tackling climate change will mean reshaping neighborhoods and drastically changing land use development with a new focus on public transit, biking and walkability. Southern Nevada has an opportunity to finally prioritize the health and safety of residents and conservation of resources by focusing on smart, sustainable urban growth by prioritizing in-fill development, diversifying housing types, allowing for mixed-use conglomerations and putting pedestrians, transit riders and bicyclists first when designing roads.

Reshaping the way we grow will not be easy, but it is necessary if we want a healthy and thriving community.

Naomi Lewis is former city planner for the cities of Henderson and Las Vegas. She has a bachelor's degree in urban studies and a master's degree in public administration from the UNLV Greenspun School of Urban Affairs. She was born in San Diego and raised in Las Vegas.

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