County targeting vacant lots’ dust

Monday, Dec. 1, 1997 | 10:46 a.m.

Air Pollution Control Chief Michael Naylor is going where Clark County has never gone before to control dust.

Although vacant lots without bulldozers or vehicle traffic kick up roughly 32 percent of the Las Vegas Valley's dust, they had largely been ignored by county officials.

Not anymore.

Once the Clark County Commission approves a resolution Tuesday to dampen this ignored dust source, Naylor said it will take further action by the District Board of Health as well as the commission to reduce inhalable particles.

Commissioner Erin Kenny formed the Clean Air Task Force II with commissioners Lorraine Hunt and Bruce Woodbury more than a year ago.

"Our goal was to take a real, live group and turn it into action," Kenny said about the task force. And vacant lots were critical issues, ignored by an earlier task force set in motion by Woodbury in 1989.

It was construction companies bulldozing and exploding their way across the valley that raised residents' respiratory ire, not vacant lots.

"That's sort of our new frontier," Naylor said of vacant lot particles, pointing out construction kicks up the most dust at almost 44 percent of the valley's total.

The good news concerning construction dust is a drop in violations from 49 in 1996 to 16 so far this year.

At the same time, the Air Pollution Control Hearing Board chaired by long-time Las Vegas resident Ann Zorn raised the penalty for kicking up dust. Penalties have jumped from $102,130 in 1996 to $230,475 so far this year.

Construction industry contractors are taking notice.

However, that still leaves those vacant desert tracts.

"It's a very critical issue," Kenny said.

The resolution calls for 14 Health District inspectors, instead of the existing 10, and putting pollution penalties to use for dampening down dust on vacant lands.

There may be an emission off-set program in the future to pave dirt roads.

"We agree with the market-based incentives, rather than punishment," Naylor said of Kenny's proposed resolution.

Jeff van Ee, vice chairman of the Clean Air Task Force II, is satisfied with the proposed resolution.

But he warns Southern Nevada residents that more detailed work remains to be done to accomplish the resolution's realistic goals.

"The battle isn't over with this resolution," he said.

Kenny doesn't intend to stop the war on valley air pollution with a single proposal.

Each County Commission agenda into the new year will tackle other forms of air pollution, including motor vehicles, truck exhausts and other sources of pollution.

"This is one of the most ambitious plans for the future of clean air in Clark County," Kenny said.