City has pollution cleanup at industrial site on fast track

Tuesday, Oct. 20, 1998 | 11:23 a.m.

The push of development has done in Henderson what the weight of federal bureaucracy takes decades to accomplish elsewhere: Made significant progress in the cleanup of an EPA-designated Superfund site.

Nevada environmental officials have worked for eight years to identify toxic chemicals left in soils and ground water around the Basic Management Industrial complex in Henderson. The site, a complicated mix of factories built in World War II to manufacture magnesium, titanium, pesticides and herbicides, was declared a Superfund site by the federal Environmental Protection Agency in 1981.

The designation did not sit well, especially in a city that had its eye set on growth.

"There is a substantial stigma becoming a Superfund site, inconsistent with the city's image," Henderson environmental attorney Barry Conaty said.

The state took responsibility for the site's cleanup in 1988, at which point the EPA took the area off the Superfund list, and in 1990, the city of Henderson joined the state in its efforts.

In that time, "We have done more than any Superfund site toward cleanup," Henderson City Attorney Shauna Hughes said. The city, state Division of Environmental Protection and BMI complex are nearly ready, in fact, to draw up an action plan to contain or clean up what the old industries left in the ground water and soils.

With no time to spare. Because just downhill, a planned community of 5,000 homes is on hold while the studies help determine the origin of radioactive and toxic ground water flowing under the development.

Palm City is under construction by Rhodes Design and Development Corp. Contaminated ground water flowing under the property at the eastern end of Sunset Road may come from industrial activities allowed more than 40 years ago before Congress enacted environmental protection laws.

The source of the radiation is still unknown, and until a source of the contamination can be found, the developer is limited to grading a golf course planned for the community. And it cannot discharge any ground water that may surface, because it would flow into the Las Vegas Wash, which flows into Lake Mead just six miles upstream from the valley's water source.

Evaluations of the industrial site, its nearby evaporation ponds and surrounding soils are almost complete, said Robert Kelso, enforcement officer for the state. The state is waiting for in-depth results from studies of the radioactive sources, heavy metals and chemicals at the site.

While Australian ore used at the Titanium Metals Corp. plant could be one source of radioactivity in the ground water and the soils, Kelso said a natural material in the area soils, called carsonite, could also produce radiation.

"Timet's radiation is no secret," Kelso said. "What we're trying to sort out are the sources. We're assuming the radiation is coming from Titanium Metals. That may or may not be true."

Once the state knows how much and what sources of radiation are in the area, then it will map out a course of action. For the industries, it could mean changes in the way they do business. They might have to change industrial processes used for decades, Kelso said.

"We're looking at 50 years of history," Kelso said. "It's not the easiest thing to do."