Bullfrog County, Nevada
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Bullfrog County was a short-lived county in the state of Nevada, created by the Nevada legislature in 1987 in an attempt to garner more state revenue from the potential creation of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. It was re-absorbed into Nye County in 1989. Bullfrog County consisted of a 144 square mile (373 km²) area around Yucca Mountain, completely enclosed by southern Nye County. Its county seat was the state capital, Carson City (although that city was not contained within its boundaries), and it had a population of 0.
The county's establishment was a response to plans by the United States federal government to give money to Nye County in exchange for building the very unpopular Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository there. This money would apparently have gone straight to the county government, bypassing the state government. Therefore, the state legislature declared the unpopulated area around the proposed nuclear waste site to be a new county, Bullfrog County. Because this new county had no population, any federal payments for placing the nuclear waste site there would go directly to the state treasury.
The establishment of the county was challenged by the government of Nye County, and the Nevada district court found it to be in violation of the state constitution because of its zero population size. In compliance, the Nevada state legislature abolished Bullfrog County in 1989, and the territory was absorbed back into Nye County.
External links
http://dmla.clan.lib.nv.us/docs/nsla/archives/political/historical/hist19.htm
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/0002/msg00204.html
http://www.viewnews.com/2001/VIEW-Jan-09-Tue-2001/pahrump/15162935.html