While thousands of fossils have been found in the area of the proposed Tule Springs National Monument in North Las Vegas, few are as impressive as a seven-foot long mammoth tusk unveiled to the public in December of 2010.
Revealed as part of a push to recognize the fossil beds as a National Monument, the approximately 16,000 year-old tusk belonged to a Columbian Mammoth (Mammuthus columbi). At around 13-feet tall and weighing in at approximately 10 metric tons, the Columbian Mammoth was the largest of the large extinct ice-age herbivores, often referred to as mega-fauna, to inhabit this area. A species like the mammoth which would typically eat between 300 pounds to 700 pounds (for a large male) of grasses, conifers, and fruits is clearly indicative of a much cooler and wetter ice-age climate.
The tusk will eventually be transported to the San Bernardino County Museum in California. Supporters hope national monument status will allow Tule Springs to house fossils in a visitor’s center on site. The current option preferred by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Alternative B, would preserve more than 11,000 acres (a little more than 17 square miles) in the Upper Las Vegas Wash in a “conservation transfer area.”
The Yucca Mountain Projects remains in a state of flux. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has not yet issued a final ruling on an appeal of the Licensing Board’s decision that the Department of Energy (DOE) does not have authority to withdraw the license application. The motion to withdraw the application was filed in March 2010, and while federal, state, local, and tribal stakeholders await a final NRC ruling, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals has scheduled oral arguments on a series of legal actions filed to block the license application withdrawal. The hearing is scheduled for March 22, 2011. The Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future (BRC) continues to hear testimony from various stakeholders and subject matter experts. The BRC is charged with finding an alternative to geologic disposal of spent fuel and high level radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain. Draft and final reports of the BRC’s findings will be released in the coming months. Funding for the Yucca Mountain program remains on hold; pending the outcome of Congressional appropriations decisions.
Since inception of the Water Smart Landscape Rebate Program by the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA), more than 150 million square feet of lawn have been replaced, translating into nearly 8.4 billion gallons per year in savings with a cumulative reduction of 41 billion gallons. Fourth quarter efforts alone have resulted in 688 projects completed (commercial and residential), resulting in an annual water use reduction of just over 143 million gallons and approximately $3 million in consumer rebates.
In light of drought conditions and the responsibility to provide the community with a safe and reliable water supply, the SNWA continues the development of two critical projects: construction of Lake Mead Intake No. 3 and permitting for the proposed Clark, Lincoln, and White Pine Counties Groundwater Development Project (Groundwater Project). Construction of the Third Intake at Lake Mead is well underway; the new intake will preserve capacity and protect water quality if Intake No. 1 becomes inoperable due to low lake elevations. Completion has been delayed, possibly from 2013 to 2014, due to two flooding incidents during the 2nd and 3rd Quarter of 2010. In spite of the delay, SNWA will still be able to meet peak demand for the foreseeable future. Lake Mead elevation at the end of fourth quarter of 2010 was 1,086.3 (down approximately 110 feet from the same time in 2000).
Monitors deployed by the Clark County Department of Air Quality at 18 sites across the county monitor four indicators including particulate matter of 10 microns (PM-10), particulate matter of 2.5 microns (PM 2.5), Ozone (the main component of smog at the ground level), and Carbon Monoxide on an hourly basis. Each pollutant is measured using the Air Quality Index, with an AQI rating of 100 corresponding to the concentration of the Federal standard for that pollutant. Finally, for ease of monitoring, all AQI values are normalized over a scale of ‘Good, ‘Moderate’, ‘Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups’, ‘Unhealthy’, ‘Very Unhealthy’ and ‘Hazardous’. Ozone, PM-2.5, and Carbon Monoxide levels stayed in the ‘Good’ to ‘Moderate’ range throughout the third quarter of 2010.1
1 http://airquality.co.clark.nv.us/cgi-bin/aqi_archive_rpt.pl
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