Washington, D.C. – Today, the Senate passed two of U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto’s (D-Nev.) bills to help create thousands of new jobs at the Apex Industrial Park and to protect the water supply for more than one million Southern Nevadans. The two bills now head to the House of Representatives for consideration.
“These two commonsense bills will help the Las Vegas valley thrive, creating good-paying jobs and protecting a critical water supply for residents of Clark County. That’s a win-win,” said Senator Cortez Masto. “I’ll always work to deliver for Nevadans, whether that is by supporting our businesses or protecting our natural resources for generations to come.”
Senator Cortez Masto’s Apex legislation addresses an outdated and overly burdensome permitting process for new and existing businesses, allowing many new businesses to expand operations in the Apex Industrial Park in North Las Vegas. The Senator has toured new sites at Apex, which has over 7,000 acres of developable land and supports hundreds of jobs, including at the Aire Liquide hydrogen plant, a 885,000 square foot Smith’s distribution center, and a one million square foot Crocs distribution center.
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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