Apex Area Technical Corrections Act
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The Apex Area Technical Corrections Act amends a 1989 law to add the City of North Las Vegas and the Apex Industrial Park Owners Association as recipients of federal rights-of-way for utilities and transportation serving the Apex industrial park near Las Vegas, alongside Clark County.
It also makes the withdrawal of transferred Apex Site lands from mining and other public-land claims permanent, and exempts certain mineral-material sales tied to site grading from standard competitive-sale limits.
What this law does
What it does
The act amends the Apex Project, Nevada Land Transfer and Authorization Act of 1989 to add the City of North Las Vegas and the Apex Industrial Park Owners Association as parties entitled to receive utility and transportation rights-of-way from the Interior Department, a status previously limited to Clark County. It requires Interior to grant rights-of-way on public lands needed to develop the Apex site as a heavy-industrial zone to the county, city, and association, rather than leaving that authority discretionary and county-only. The act also makes permanent the withdrawal of transferred Apex Site lands from mineral leasing and other public-land entry, and exempts mineral-material sales resulting from site grading from the quantity and term limits otherwise applied to noncompetitive sales. It adds a requirement that land transfers and rights-of-way comply with federal environmental and land-management laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act.
Key provisions
- 1Adds definitions for 'Apex Industrial Park Owners Association' and 'City of North Las Vegas' to the 1989 Apex Project law.
- 2Requires Interior to grant utility and transportation rights-of-way to the city and association, not just Clark County, for connecting infrastructure to Apex Site lands.
- 3Makes the withdrawal of transferred Apex Site lands from public land entry and mineral leasing continue in perpetuity.
- 4Exempts mineral-material sales from surface grading or land-balancing activities at the Apex Site from quantity and term limits on noncompetitive sales.
- 5Conditions future land transfers and rights-of-way at the Apex Site on compliance with federal environmental and land-management laws, including NEPA.
Who is affected
Clark County, the City of North Las Vegas, and the Apex Industrial Park Owners Association, which jointly manage and develop the Apex industrial park site near Las Vegas, along with the Interior Department, which administers the underlying public lands and issues the rights-of-way.
Why it matters
The changes let the city and the owners association obtain rights-of-way directly rather than routing infrastructure connections solely through Clark County, potentially speeding utility and transportation buildout at the industrial park. The permanent land withdrawal and mineral-sale exemption give the site long-term certainty against future mining claims and sales restrictions.
What changed
Changes to existing law
Amends Apex Project, Nevada Land Transfer and Authorization Act of 1989 (Sec. 2)
Adds the City of North Las Vegas and the Apex Industrial Park Owners Association as parties eligible for rights-of-way, makes land withdrawal permanent, and exempts certain mineral sales.
Agencies directed to act
Funding and costs
Congressional Budget Office estimate
CBO estimates H.R. 618 would decrease direct spending by less than $500,000 over the 2025–2035 period, with no effect on revenues and no significant effect on the federal deficit.
H.R. 618 would direct the Bureau of Land Management to grant utility and transportation rights-of-way to entities in the Apex Industrial Park area in Nevada and adjust requirements for selling mineral materials such as sand and gravel. CBO estimates that offsetting receipts from mineral material sales and right-of-way rents — recorded in the budget as reductions in direct (mandatory) spending — would be small, reducing direct spending by less than $500,000 over the 2025–2035 period. Fees collected for processing rights-of-way are classified as discretionary offsetting collections (reductions in discretionary spending), and CBO expects the net effect on spending subject to annual appropriation would be negligible. The bill contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined by law.
How it works
Interior would carry out the amendments by processing rights-of-way applications from Clark County, the City of North Las Vegas, and the Apex Industrial Park Owners Association under the existing 1989 authorization, now expanded to name all three entities. Any future land or interest transfers and rights-of-way issued under the act must first satisfy applicable federal land-use laws, including environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, before Interior finalizes them.
Legislative status & sources
Latest action
Became Public Law No: 119-24.
Official CRS summary
Show the CRS summaryHide the CRS summary
This act directs the Department of the Interior to grant certain rights-of-way related to the Apex Project (an industrial park) to Clark County in Nevada, the city of North Las Vegas, and the Apex Industrial Park Owners Association. Thus, the act expedites the federal permitting process for expanding the industrial park's infrastructure.
Specifically, the act directs Interior to grant utility and transportation rights-of-way to the city of North Las Vegas and the Apex Industrial Park Owners Association for the connection of existing electric power, water, natural gas, telephone, railroad, and highway facilities to lands within the Apex Project site. (Interior is already directed to grant such rights-of-way to Clark County.)
Interior must also grant to the county, the city, and association such rights-of-way on public lands as may be necessary to support the development of the industrial park as a heavy use industrial zone. (Currently, Interior may grant the rights-of-way to the county.)
The act also requires that the withdrawal of the transferred lands within the Apex Site from all forms of entry and appropriation under the public land laws (e.g., leasing the land for minerals) continue in perpetuity.
In the case of the sale of mineral materials resulting from grading or other activities on the surface of a land parcel within the Apex Project site, the sales are exempt from quantity and term limitations placed on noncompetitive sales.
Legislative subjects
Environmental assessment, monitoring, research; Land transfers; Nevada; Public Lands and Natural Resources
Committee report
H. Rept. 119-86