Cortez Masto’s bills will help attract new businesses and create jobs at the North Las Vegas Apex Industrial Center and help build the Horizon Lateral water pipeline.
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) passed vital legislation to help create thousands of new jobs at the Apex Industrial Park and to protect the water supply for more than 1 million Nevadans through the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Both bills passed with bipartisan support and will now advance to the full Senate for consideration.
“We need to make it easier for new businesses to come to Southern Nevada and create good-paying jobs for our families, and this legislation will make North Las Vegas an easier, more attractive place for companies looking to expand their operations,” said Senator Cortez Masto. “I will continue working across the aisle to get this legislation into law, boosting our economy and protecting our water supply for the hardworking families who call Las Vegas home.”
Senator Cortez Masto’s Apex legislation addresses an outdated and overly burdensome permitting process for new and existing businesses, allowing many new businesses to expand operations in this area. The Senator recently toured new sites at Apex, which has over 7,000 acres of developable land and supports hundreds of jobs that were created in the past year, including at the Air Liquide hydrogen plant, a 885,000 square foot Smith’s distribution center, and a 1 million square foot Crocs distribution center set to open this fall. The Crocs center alone will create 650 jobs for Nevadans.
The Sloan Canyon Conservation and Horizon Lateral Water Pipeline Act will upgrade water infrastructure for more than a million Nevadans, dramatically improving Las Vegas’s water system and protecting residents from outages without pulling any additional water from Lake Mead. Currently, SNWA operates one large water pipeline that serves approximately 40% of the residents and businesses in the Las Vegas valley, including the entire City of Henderson. The Las Vegas Valley needs another water pipeline in order to improve the reliability and capacity of the existing water system. Cortez Masto’s bill facilitates the responsible construction of this new pipeline, while expanding the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area by 9,290 acres.
Senator Cortez Masto has worked across the board to strengthen and diversify Nevada’s economy and create new jobs by passing legislation to upgrade American infrastructure, support Nevada’s manufacturing industry, and invest in Nevada’s booming clean-energy economy. She’s also delivered $4 billion to combat drought in the states bordering the Colorado River and secured $450 million to fund large-scale water recycling projects in the West, including one that would provide water for more than 500,000 households in Southern Nevada and California.
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