Sunday, August 26, 2007
Southern Nevada's Oldest Saloon Destined to Co-exist With Nation's Newest Airport
By Robert L. Candiotti
Change is due - and it can easily be argued overdue - in Ivanpah Valley, Nevada.
Change is in the air everywhere
in the Ivanpah realm: The proposed Ivanpah Valley Airport is the focus of a progressing U.S. Government-supervised Environmental
Impact Statement; MGM Mirage and its partners are about to renovate and invigorate the "blink and you'll miss it"
town of Jean; the Primm casinos - recently bought by Herbst Gaming, Inc.- are almost pleading for a makeover; and
the increasingly hip, and already large, Fashion Outlets Mall in Primm is planning to expand by 60 per cent,
requiring a new investment of $141 million.
As this web-site - IvanpahValley.com - states in a few places,
the proposed Ivanpah Valley Airport is needed and is inevitable. Dramatic transformation of the entire area will certainly
follow.
But the new owner of Pioneer Saloon, which is located seven miles due west of Jean, up State Highway 161,
has affectionately embraced the oldest watering hole in southern Nevada. It's almost as if you can see a sign nailed outside
above the doorway - CHANGE STOPS HERE.
Like in the classic Western of the 1950s, High Noon, owner Noel Sheckells
met Change in the street, faced Change down, and the bar - barely altered since it was built in 1913 - remains secure from
the valley's Winds of Change.
"I wanted to buy this and preserve it for future generations," Sheckells
explains amiably, but with conviction. "It is very important to preserve this."
Yonder, 30 miles
north of Ivanpah Valley, is the veritable Land of Change, Las Vegas. Everything in Las Vegas gets rebuilt every 20 years.
Or at least it seems that way.
In the Neon Wonderland where it all hangs on a roll of the dice, the Past is one customer
most definitely not welcomed at the tables.
And right now, the same is true in Ivanpah Valley. The
vast valley is just sitting there, undefined and underdeveloped, with the raw acreage for a brand new, futuristic, multi-billion
dollar, international airport already transferred to the Clark County Department of Aviation. This will be the supplementary
airport that will take over the additional air capacity required when Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport
is unable to grow any further.
In this part of Nevada, a bet on change is most definitely not a long
shot.
That makes Pioneer Saloon, built almost 100 years ago during the mining boom in the area, very
significant. You just cannot build one like it today. It's kind of like the Queen Mother of Ivanpah Valley. It's
an enchanting remnant of the past - in the present.
"I have a passion for history," Sheckells states, more
than once.
It is said the cherry wood bar, seen today in the Pioneer Saloon, was manufactured in the 1800s by the
Brunswick Company in Maine. It was shipped around Cape Horn to San Francisco, and brought by mule train to Nevada. The
saloon's building - inside and outside - consists of stamped-tin squares with strong designs that were made by Sears
and Roebuck in the East, and transported across the country.
In August it is hardly noticed, but, in the wintertime,
the original 1860s pot belly stove close to the bar still burns wood to provide soothing warmth for the patrons.
In
1942, Carole Lombard died in a DC-3 crash near Mount Potosi, close to Goodsprings, the location of the saloon. Her
husband, Clark Gable, waited at Pioneer Saloon for several days, piecing the dark and dismal news together.
Many remnants of the tragic event are displayed at the saloon.
And there is also the evidence of violence many decades
ago at a poker table.
There was a poker brawl. Does it surprise anyone to learn it involved cheating and alcohol? Shots rang
out. It took the county coroner fully 10 hours to get out to the remote town of Goodsprings. The victim - officially
declared to be in the wrong - was dead. The body was removed. But the bullet hole remains in the stamped-tin wall of the parlour.
The bartenders will point it out to you.
Sheckells bought the Pioneer Saloon on December 1, 2006. The previous proprietors
- the Hedrick family - had owned the landmark for 40 years. Sheckells says competition to buy the saloon was strong.
"There were seven competing buyers," he states.When the Pioneer went up for sale, Don Hedrick, spokesman for the
family, is quoted as saying, "I am asking a lot for the place because I want the new owners to be committed to it living
on."
Sheckells says Hedrick wanted to accede to the wants of his deceased father. "He said he wanted to do
the wishes of his father. He said he wanted someone with passion to preserve the place."
Apparently, the Hedricks
were satisfied with the declared intentions of Noel Sheckells. He is now the proud owner.
At the nearly 100
year-old Pioneer Saloon in Goodsprings, Nevada, sitting confidently in the midst of the Winds of Change of Ivanpah Valley,
the stamped-tin squares of the walls will be holding Change out, and the best of the Old West in.
To read much more about the saloon, go to the "Modern Ivanpah Valley" page
of this web-site, IvanpahValley.com. Scroll to the bottom of the page. There are many links to an abundant amount of
information about the history of Goodsprings, Nevada, and the story of the Pioneer Saloon.
3:51 pm pdt
Friday, August 24, 2007
Ivanpah Valley Airport and History of the Environmental Impact Statement Process
"To declare a national policy which will encourage productive
and enjoyable harmony between man and his environment; to promote efforts which will prevent or eliminate damage to the environment
and biosphere and stimulate the health and welfare of man; to enrich the understanding of the ecological systems and natural
resources important to the Nation..."
Preamble to
the National Environmental Policy Act (1969)
By Robert L. Candiotti
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Bureau
of Land Management (BLM) are, as the Joint Lead Agencies (JLA) of the project, currently engaged in preparing an Environmental
Impact Statement for the proposed Ivanpah Valley Airport. Like McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, the supplementary
Ivanpah Valley Airport will be operated by the Clark County Department of Aviation (CCDOA).
The Record of Decision (ROD)
on the proposed Ivanpah Valley Airport, to be constructed 30 miles south of Las Vegas, is estimated for the latter part
of 2010.
The airport is projected to be in operation some time in 2017.
The term Environmental Impact
Statement, also commonly known as EIS, is a familiar one that people have read and heard for decades. Yet, one may wonder
when and how did the Environmental Impact Statement concept and procedures begin?
According to
the Overview section of the Project Development page of the U.S. Department of Transportation web-site, "On January 1, 1970, the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) was signed into law. NEPA
established a national environmental policy intentionally focused on Federal activities and the desire for a sustainable environment
balanced with other essential needs of present and future generations of Americans."
Under NEPA, Federal
agencies are required to consider "potential environmental consequences of their proposals, document the analysis, and
make this information available to the public for comment prior to implementation."
Details of the process were
the responsibility of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), which interpreted the law and defined NEPA's
provisions with regard to regulations and guidance.
1:47 pm pdt
Monday, August 20, 2007
FAA Publication Indicates Ivanpah Valley Airport Will Be Needed
By Robert L. Candiotti
In a publication by the Federal Aviation Administration, titled Capacity
Needs in the National Airspace System 2007-2025, which has much information relevant to Southern Nevada, an intriguing fact is
found on its first page.
In a message written by FAA Administrator Marion C. Blakey, she notes, in the past 40 years,
there have only been "two new major commercial service airports opening in the United States, Dallas-Fort Worth and Denver
International."
Just two new airports in 40 years. Clearly, the construction of a new large airport
is a very rare thing. This is one of the main reasons why the proposed Ivanpah Valley Airport is such a noteworthy airport
project.
In her message, Blakey says the nation "may need to add as many as four more in the next 20 to 30 years.
Atlanta, Chicago, Las Vegas and San Diego are among the likely candidates," she states.
A study of the thrust of
airport development in the U.S. shows that only one of the four areas - Ivanpah Valley, 30 miles south of Las Vegas - is now
proceeding steadily along the Environmental Impact Statement path toward the Record of Decision (ROD), which is a statement
on proposed action regarding, and all the reasons behind, a final decision on the 6,500 acre international airport.
The
Record of Decision is now scheduled for the latter part of 2010. Completion of the airport is projected to occur in 2017.
What appears to be driving serious commitment by the FAA and Bureau of Land Management is a situation that is clearly
delineated in the Capacity Needs document. Southern Nevada is one of the "capacity hot spots" described
by Administrator Blakey.
What Capacity Needs lays out is the conclusion that at some time between 2015 and 2020,
even with all the planned and possible improvements at Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport, additional aviation
capacity will be needed to handle demand in the Las Vegas metropolitan area.
The desert of Ivanpah Valley that is designated
to be the site of the supplementary airport is flat and undeveloped. The momentum toward the development of Ivanpah Valley
Airport reflects the momentum of the expanding population center that includes Nevada's Clark County and California's
San Bernardino County.
The issues surrounding such a monumental public works project can be dizzying: surface transportation,
air quality, noise, wildlife protection, power sources, water sources, environmental sensitivity, flood protection, socioeconomic
changes, and on and on.
If the constuction of Ivanpah Valley Airport gets the go-ahead in 2010, then every effort has
to be made for the airport to be a successful, and highly lauded, airport of the future.
If it is even an airport for
the present, it will be too little, too old-fashioned, too late.
Such a project is exciting and humbling. Fascinating
and overwhelming.
If approved, this will be a test of this region of America's ability to face the challenges of
air transportation - all the time incorporating the latest technologies of renewable and sustainable energy - extending
far and deep into the 21st Century.
According to the FAA's Capacity Needs publication, what Administrator
Blakey calls "critical capacity problems that are becoming more chronic" seem to dispassionately indicate Ivanpah
Valley Airport needs to be a "go."
That is one of the very first steps on a road to Ivanpah that will take
10 years to conscientiously tread.
12:07 pm pdt
Friday, August 17, 2007
Solar Power Technology Will Be a Natural for Ivanpah Valley Airport
By Robert L. Candiotti
At the 2007 Inaugural Energy Symposium organized by the
University of Nevada, Las Vegas, August 15-16, 2007, approximately 30 presenters discussed renewable/sustainable energy projects
in Nevada and the Southwest area of the United States. (In an August 15, 2007, article by Christina Littlefield in the Las
Vegas Sun newspaper, it is reported more than 100 UNLV professors and graduate students are presently
working on 25 alernative energy research projects).
Delivered as a multi-faceted presentation to review
"the development and utilization of new technologies to protect the environment, achieve energy independence, and strengthen
the economy," possibly the most distinct area of focus of the two-day event was solar power.
Thomas Fair, Renewable
Energy Program Executive with Nevada Power Company, said in the keynote address that Nevada is now leading the way in solar
and geothermal power development, and wind power expansion will follow.
He noted that his company's Portfolio Standard
requires by the year 2015, 20 per cent of energy sources comes from renewables. By that year, he said, "Nevada Power
will be spending two billion dollars on renewable energy."
Interestingly, when asked if nuclear power has a place
in Nevada Power's future, he succinctly stated nuclear power is not going to be a part of the energy array of the state
of Nevada.
He mentioned two major solar projects in Southern Nevada. The first is Nevada Solar One, a 64-megawatt
solar-thermal plant near Boulder City, Nevada, and the other is the 10-megawatt Solar Star project - the largest solar-photovoltaic
project in North America - being constructed at Southern Nevada's Nellis Air Force Base.
Michelle
Price, Energy Manager of Nellis Air Force Base, provided details about the solar photovoltaic project.
When completed,
the solar power system will cover 140 acres , and will provide 30 per cent of the electrical power needed at Nelllis.
Solar Power Corporation of San Jose, California, is manufacturing the panels. The system is designed with concrete footers
that rest on, rather than penetrate, the land supporting Solar Star.
According to Price, the first 5 MW will come on
line in October of this year.
The proposed Ivanpah Valley Airport will be located close to both the Nellis and
the Boulder City solar energy installations. Thirty miles south of Las Vegas (between the tiny towns of Jean and Primm), it
will also be close to UNLV. So, it will be set firmly in the sunny land of solar energy expertise. Right now, the
site is undergoing the steps of an Environmental Impact Statement, with the Record of Decision scheduled for
the end of 2010. It is projected that the airport - taking most of Southern Nevada's international and long-haul
domestic flights from Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport - will be open for business in 2017.
More
than 6,000 acres have been purchased by Nevada's Clark County from the U.S. Government for the airport. In addition,
once there is construction, 17,000 more acres will be transferred to Clark County Department of Aviation by the Bureau
of Land Management for a noise compatabililty area.
Therefore, it seems there will be an abundance of land
for the cutting-edge solar technology of that future time.
With the commitment to renewable energy by Nevada Power
Company, the current creation of two major solar power systems in Southern Nevada, and the work of UNLV researching
alternative energy posssibilities, it would appear certain that Ivanpah Valley Airport will incorporate the most advanced
technologies of solar power generation.
8:02 pm pdt
