EAST LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A long-planned Southern Nevada Supplemental Airport — also known as the Ivanpah Valley Airport — is inching closer to fruition with an environmental review process kicking off this week.
"We've been planning a second commercial service for almost 25 years now," said Jim Chrisley, Clark County's Senior Director of Aviation.
VIDEO: Geneva Zoltek reports the latest on Ivanpah airport expansion
To start to garner public feedback, the Federal Aviation Authority and Bureau of Land Management hosted a Public Scoping Meeting on Wednesday afternoon at the East Las Vegas Library.
The land for this airport is already set aside — about 30 miles south of Las Vegas on public land. A little under 6,000 acres would be used for the facility itself, while an additional 17,000 acres would be developed for a "transportation and utilities corridor," according to county documents.
The public can submit initial comments about the project's environmental impact until the Sept. 5 deadline. While it's a quick turnaround, the entire Environmental Impact Assessment will take place over the next two years.
"We're asking the public to provide any input, any questions, comments on the proposed project and the environmental review process," Chrisley said.
This environmental review marks just the first step in a multi-phase process that could lead to the facility opening in 2037.
"We're really excited to be here tonight to kick this off," Chrisley said.
Many attendees of the meeting, however, were there in opposition to the project.
"We're really questioning the need for this airport," said Vinny Spotleson, volunteer chair of the Southern Nevada Chapter of the Sierra Club.
Spotleson and other Sierra Club volunteers joined the Center for Biological Diversity, Make the Road Nevada and other concerned conservationists in hosting demonstration outside the library — with costumes and signs — to highlight what they believe is at stake.
"This is critical desert tortoise habitat, critical bird habitat. There's even endangered wild flowers in the area. The other problem is there's no water in that valley," Spotleson
Beyond the ecosystem, Spotleson tells Channel 13, he's also concerned about the urbanization of the desert that surrounds Las Vegas.
"We cannot afford to sprawl all the way down to Jean. We cannot afford the wildlife impacts, or the water impacts, or the air quality impacts from adding a second gigantic commercial airport between Jean and Primm," Spotleson continued.
