Editorial: Pact aims to reduce pollution

Tuesday, Oct. 12, 1999 | 9:17 a.m.

For years environmentalists have been trying to get the federal government to reduce the haze at the Grand Canyon, a situation that often prevents a visitor from seeing the dramatic landscape of this national landmark. In 1998 the Grand Canyon Trust and the Sierra Club turned to the courts, filing a federal lawsuit seeking to force pollution controls at the Mohave Generating Station in Laughlin, which the groups believed was a significant contributor to the haze. Earlier this year the Environmental Protection Agency released a report that confirmed their allegations: The coal-fired power plant, which is just 75 miles away from the Grand Canyon, is the largest single source of haze there.

But a resolution is now at hand. Last week an out-of-court settlement was reached that requires the plant -- owned by Nevada Power Co., Southern California Edison, Los Angeles Department of Water & Power and the Salt River Project in Phoenix -- to put in smokestack scrubbers, a filter system and new burners for the plant's boilers. The cost isn't inexpensive -- the price tag for the project, expected to be completed by 2006, is estimated to be $300 million -- but the anti-pollution controls are long overdue. And while it's not yet known precisely how much the new controls at the Mohave Generating Station will improve the Grand Canyon's condition, it is an important first step in stemming the haze. Currently the plant releases 40,000 tons of sulfur dioxide, which creates the haze, but the new smoke stack scrubbers will cut this down to just 6,000 tons every year.

Not only does the Mohave Generating Station contribute to the problem, but Los Angeles, Phoenix and Las Vegas also play a role, as cars and industrial plants send out emissions which, when combined with dust and other natural materials, sometimes drift over the Grand Canyon to create the haze. There are many advantages to living in a major metropolitan area, but one of the downsides that most urban residents accept -- albeit grudgingly -- is that congested cities typically mean pollution, including haze. Las Vegas is no exception as haze has increased as the valley has grown.

This doesn't mean that growth should come to a standstill in the West, but reasonable steps should be taken to solve other thorny environmental issues that cross state lines. The primary goal when setting tougher environmental standards to control pollution obviously is to improve the lives of residents living near its source. Yet this is a situation where this state and others bear a responsibility to be good neighbors and do their fair share in making the entire region a better place to live.