What's shaking out at Ivanpah with the new airport? Last we heard, they were doing an environmental impact statement, but that was a few years ago. Are they still working on the EIS and if so, how long does it take to prepare a report about a patch of desert scrub?
Formerly known as the Ivanpah Valley Airport, it is now called the more prosaic Southern Nevada Supplemental Airport (SNSA).
Prior to the Great Recession, so confident were some officials that the Ivanpah Valley Airport would be built that MGM Resorts tore down its Nevada Landing Hotel-Casino, planning to use that site and some adjacent real estate to develop tract housing for airport employees. That project went away rapidly when the airport was temporarily shelved in favor of Reid's shiny Terminal 3, the preferred arrival and departure point for overseas travelers.
If the environmental impact statement seems to be taking a very long time, that's because the initial EIS began in September 2006, a mere 20 years ago. It percolated along until 2010, when it was suspended due to economic downturns, then officially canceled. The process didn't restart until last May.
Today, it's being handled by the Federal Aviation Administration and Bureau of Land Management, two federal agencies not particularly known for their alacrity or efficiency. A draft of the EIS is expected by June 2027, with a final determination anticipated around May 2028.
If that comes to pass, construction could (but probably won't, if history is any indication) start as early as 2029 and be completed around 2035.
When it’s built, SNSA will sit five miles south of little Jean, Nevada, 30 miles southwest of the city along I-15, chosen for its isolation from Nellis Air Force Base and Reid airspaces. It will encompass what are now 6,500 acres of Mojave Desert scrub, though the SNSA won’t use all 6,500 acres. Some of it will form a buffer for noise-avoidance purposes and to keep “incompatible development” at bay.
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Bob Nelson
Feb-23-2026
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