The Ponderosa Dairy has the official support of the Amargosa Valley Town Advisory Board in its effort to acquire public lands, after the board voted last Thursday to petition the federal Bureau of Land Management in the dairy's favor.

The unanimous vote puts the dairy one step closer to securing about 759 acres of government-owned land.

All of the concerned land borders private property.

Before voting, Chairman Jan Cameron told the crowd her decision was a difficult one, but added that it was necessary to help put federal land into private hands.

"I do not like that the federal government manages an extremely large amount of land in our community," she said.

One of the dairy's prospective neighbors is commodities trader and former dairy manager Ed Goedhart.

Speaking in favor of the deal, Goedhart said water was a non-issue, since the additional land would help irrigation, leading to reduced water usage.

He said he expects the dairy's water consumption to decline by 30 percent as a result.

Goedhart also said he is bothered by residents' attitude toward the dairy.

He said the business should be looked at in a more favorable light, since farming contributes to American productivity.

"It would be sad if in 10 or 15 years, we had as much trouble putting food on the table as we have now putting gas in the tanks."

When board member Cameron tried to ask Goedhart a question, the former dairy manager interrupted: "I was up here to make a statement, not so much to answer questions. Thank you. I'm done."

Goedhart also serves as the District 36 representative in the Nevada Assembly.

Board member Joe DeLee then tried to ask Higgins a question about how water would be affected if the dairy tried to expand its operations on the land.

Higgins stared straight ahead, silent, prompting Cameron to say, "Well, I guess we won't be getting any questions answered." Jason Higgins, of Land Surveying Inc., represented the Goedhart family, which owns land bordering one of the concerned parcels. He told the board that the dairy management's intention is not to use the land to expand operations but to provide a buffer between the dairy and private lands.

But when asked if anything could prevent management from changing its mind once the land was under dairy ownership, Higgins said no such provision was possible.

Once the dairy owns the land, he explained, the land can be used however ownership sees fit.

Before handing down a decision, the board heard from a number of residents, most of whom voiced displeasure with the proposal.

Bruce Crater, a resident and former board member, accused the dairy of doing too much out-of-town business and said the town wouldn't benefit enough from the deal.

"I'm not opposed to the sale of this land by the BLM to private owners, but I am opposed to the dairy owning any more land in the Amargosa Valley," Crater said. "These people have not expressed a good-neighbor policy."

Other residents, like Jean Adams, expressed concern about the affect the move would have on the valley's water supply.

"I worry about dairy expansion because of water problems in our corner of the valley," she said. "Our wells are really suffering down there and I feel like something needs to be done about it."