S. 392 — Sloan Canyon Conservation and Lateral Pipeline Act

This section defines, for purposes of the Act, the term “Conservation Area” as the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area and the term “Secretary” as the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of the Bureau of Land Management.

This section expands the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area—established to conserve cultural, archaeological, natural, wilderness, scientific, geological, historical, biological, wildlife, educational, and scenic resources—by updating its boundary map to one entitled "Proposed Sloan Canyon Expansion" dated May 20, 2024 (from "Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act" dated October 1, 2002), and increasing its acreage to 57,728 acres (from 48,438 acres). The section further grants the Southern Nevada Water Authority, without rents or charges and subject to resource protections (including no permanent adverse effects on surface resources or location through wilderness areas), a temporary and permanent right-of-way not later than one year after enactment for the Horizon lateral pipeline—including water pipeline infrastructure within the conservation area and powerline, facility, and access road rights-of-way outside it—to conduct geotechnical investigations and construct and operate water transmission facilities; authorizes the Authority to excavate and use or dispose of necessary tunneling materials, with a memorandum of understanding required within 30 days for disposal sites on federal land; preserves valid existing rights in designated utility transmission corridors and rights-of-way approved prior to enactment (allowing their continued operation, maintenance, repair, replacement, or new authorizations per NEPA and other laws); and specifies that conservation area management under existing law remains unchanged except for the new right-of-way.