BLM forwards Carson protest on to Washington

Bureau of Land Management state director Bob Abbey has forwarded Carson City's land sale protest to Washington, D.C., with a recommendation to dismiss it, a BLM spokeswoman said Wednesday.

By forwarding a recommendation instead of making a decision, the state office reduced the amount of time it will take before a possible resolution, said spokeswoman Jo Simpson.

"We believe we did all the proper procedural steps to offer that land for sale," Simpson said. "We would like to move on with the sale. If, by request, the secretary dismisses the protest, it allows that to happen in a timely manner."

Because the decision was referred directly to Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton, Carson City officials will not have the option to appeal the decision to the federal Interior Board of Land Appeals, a process that would have taken months or years to complete.

Carson Mayor Ray Masayko said he was aware that a tactic was being developed that would circumvent the state director and the possibility of Carson appealing the decision to the board of land appeals.

As a result, Masayko sent letters last week to congressional representatives, urging them to allow or at least support Carson's position of allowing the process to continue, he said. Interim City Manager Andy Burnham sent a letter directly to Norton outlining the city's concerns, Masayko said.

The protest outlined Carson's concern that a proper environmental analysis and socioeconomic studies were not fully explored before the decision to sell the land.

"We'll see what happens," Masayko said. "Obviously, if (the decision) occurs at the secretary level and we can't appeal, then we've put forward the effort I believe we needed to do to protect our sales tax and our citizens from the eroding of our sales tax base."

A decision by Norton's office is expected within two weeks, Simpson said.

Carson City expected this type of outcome after city supervisors failed to reach agreement on issues with Douglas County commissioners at a meeting in January, said interim City Manager Andy Burnham.

"We assumed this might happen," he said.

Carson City filed the protest with BLM in November, halting the sale of a 146-acre parcel in northern Douglas County. Douglas officials were in favor of BLM's sale of the land, to allow it to be developed as retail property.

Douglas commissioners asked BLM's Carson City office in December to expedite making a decision after Carson officials refused to drop the protest.