Clean air group upset with fines

Thursday, Sept. 12, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

A grass-roots group organized to fight for cleaner Southern Nevada air is questioning low fines imposed by a panel charged with penalizing polluters.

The Clean Air Alliance of Nevada examined the 22-item consent agenda under consideration by the Air Pollution Control Hearing Board today and discovered that proposed fines fell 10 to 90 percent below the enforcement officer's recommendations.

Instead of charging repeat offenders up to $10,000 a day as the law allows, many fines were in the hundreds of dollars, said Rick Nielsen, executive director of Citizen Alert, which is part of the Clean Air Alliance.

On the consent section of the hearing board's agenda, each fine may be negotiated and set before it arrives before board members. The board may approve the entire consent agenda in one motion.

If maximum fines had been levied, violators would pay about $117,000, instead of the roughly $27,000 in penalties approved in a single motion by the board, Nielsen said.

"That's 80 percent less in penalties than the current fines allow," Nielsen said. "We'd like to know why."

Michael Naylor, director of the health district's Air Pollution Control Division, said the fines for dust violations -- $24,000 worth -- were the highest total ever collected by the board in 20 years. Environmental Technologies, for its second offense, will pay $3,300 alone, he said.

Still, the alliance, including Citizen Alert, Nevada Seniors, the Sierra Club, the Audubon Society and the UNLV Department of Environmental Studies, presented a letter to board Chairwoman Ann Zorn, demanding better documentation and stiffer penalties.

Zorn said the Clark County Health District will request changes in air quality laws during the 1997 session of the Nevada Legislature. The Legislature must approve major policy shifts to meet federal air quality standards and the state air quality plan.

Clark County has serious dust problems and is under careful study by the federal Environmental Protection Agency for wintertime carbon monoxide levels.

The form of the legislative changes is still under consideration, but Zorn said she would like to put into place penalties that will actually clear the air.

"In many cases, no matter how much money is assessed in fines, the pollution will continue," Zorn said.

Instead, Zorn suggested contractors with repeat offenses be forced to fence lots and pave roads to help clear the air.

"Whatever it takes to clear the air," Zorn said.

Even a combined fine and action penalty might work, she said.

"How do we get clear air if we don't have the power to correct the problems?" Zorn asked.

The district Health Board will be asked to consider a request from the Clark County Commission to change current requirements that send air pollution fines to the school district. The plan is for the money to be used to enforce the regulations.