Ivanpah Valley Airport - proposed
to embrace up to 23,000 acres on the flat desert about 30 miles to the south of Las Vegas, Nevada - will not open until
2018 at the earliest.
2018 sounds far away, right? Actually, not really.
Ten
years will allow barely enough time to discover, discuss and decide just how environmentally advanced, technologically
visionary and aesthetically refreshing this ultra-rare project (a totally new international airport in the U.S.) will be.
Ivanpah Valley Airport is currently undergoing the required Environmental Impact Statement process. The EIS will not be completed
until 2010. Its approval is not yet guaranteed. Also, there is an economic slowdown in Nevada and beyond, so there is no urgency
today that Ivanpah Valley Airport moves along.
Still, the issue of Ivanpah Valley Airport is more pressing
than most people realize. There is significant evidence that 2015 will be about the time when Las Vegas' McCarran International
Airport will be unable to expand any further.
Ivanpah Valley Airport is referred to as a "supplemental"
airport that will add to McCarran's capacity. But, to do the new airport and Southern Nevada justice, Ivanpah seems to
be destined to be very different than McCarran. The Clark County Department of Aviation will control both McCarran and Ivanpah,
but Ivanpah seems to be prone to a positioning and personality all its own.
There are reasons why Ivanpah's
uniqueness is practically guaranteed.
First, Ivanpah Valley Airport will be in the backyard of University
of Nevada, Las Vegas, currently one of the world's top universities in the realm of renewable energy. How many students
and teachers would like to have a chance to develop the renewable energy systems at North America's newest international
airport?
Second, Nevada U.S. Senator Harry Reid supports and encourages renewable energy with a passion.
With the Center for American Progress Action Fund and UNLV, he hosted the National Clean Energy Summit on August 19. As he
said recently in a guest column in the Las Vegas Sun, "This gathering is the jumping-off point for a new renewable
Nevada that will propel forward a new America of prosperity and stewardship."
Third, Springs Preserve,
a $250 million public attraction held by the Las Vegas Water District, has some sustainable architectural features that
can serve as models and inspirations for a dramatically larger potential project - Ivanpah Valley Airport.
The juxtaposition of Ivanpah with Las Vegas is also significant. Las Vegas is a powerful center of entertainment and economic
activity. Ivanpah will be affected by being in Las Vegas' universe, but it will also be totally different than McCarran.
Plus, these are obviously new times right now. Change is in vogue. The Bush pro-oil administration is on the way out. American
people, especially in the Southwest region of the U.S., seem to be freeing up their libertarian and adventuresome feelings.
In addition, it seems Ivanpah lends itself to a strong Native American influence in its layout and look. What Ivanpah could
look like is hardly even imagined yet. Clearly, though, there is so much potential in the vast acreage that could be the location
of Ivanpah Valley Airport.
Also, there appears to be no way the new Airbus A380 aircraft can easily
land at McCarran. The A380 needs a different infrastructure than the B747. It needs longer and wider runways, and different
gate facilities. A380s are double-deck aircraft from fore to aft. Though only two airlines are flying the new aircraft now,
as of July 24, 2008, total orders for the A380s are 198 airplanes. The majority of these customers are Asian and Middle Eastern
aviation companies. There is bound to be a demand for some A380s to fly to the Las Vegas area. Hence, another development
that will favor Ivanpah Valley Airport.
Ten years may seem like a long way off. But it is not. If Ivanpah Valley
Airport is approved, it will have to be designed and built like no other airport that has come before.
Southern Nevada can have a refreshingly renewable international airport, but it will take a lot of thought, talk and tenacity.
Robert
L. Candiotti, August 26, 2008
