Brady Owens, assistant field manager for the Bureau of Land Management(Wells Field Office), told the Natural Resource Management Commission that the BLM expects a cadastral survey for the West Wendover legislative conveyance to be finished by the end of July.
Why it matters: the legal land description is the prerequisite step to environmental site assessments and, if hazards are found, to satisfy identification requirements under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) before title can leave federal ownership.
Owens said the conveyance stems from a federal mandate dating to a 2003 provision in the National Defense Authorization Act directing transfer of certain lands to the city. "We're hoping to see some survey finished by the end of the month for the West Windover legislative conveyance that would give us a legal land description that moves us to the next step of environmental site assessments," Owens said. He added that environmental work could take multiple phases depending on what contaminants are identified.
BLM staff explained that cadastral surveys are a high-priority, detail-oriented task handled by agency surveyors and that issuance of a patent depends on the assessments: "they are fairly short lived documents because they are trying to capture a snapshot in time," Owens said. The BLM will then proceed with environmental review and hazard identification required by CERCLA before passing title to local governments.
No formal action was taken by the commission. The BLM said the next procedural milestone is receipt of the legal land description; timing for any further steps will follow the outcome of environmental site assessments.
The commission did not direct staff to take any immediate legal steps; it asked for updates as the survey and assessments proceed.