County fails to submit clean-air plan to EPA

Wednesday, Sept. 1, 1999 | 11:31 a.m.

The clock began ticking Tuesday for Clark County to meet a two-year deadline for controlling carbon monoxide before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency freezes federal highway funds.

The agency officially declared Tuesday that the county has missed its deadline to submit a plan showing how it will meet national air quality standards for carbon monoxide in the Las Vegas Valley.

Clark County failed to submit an action plan for the colorless, odorless, poisonous gas, most of it coming from vehicle exhaust pipes. The original deadline for the plan was May 3.

"We want to ensure that progress is made more rapidly to protect people in the Las Vegas Valley from carbon monoxide pollution," EPA's Western Regional Administrator Felicia Marcus said on Tuesday.

"The public needs protection every day so the county needs to get a plan in and implement it," she said.

If a plan is not in place by February 2001, the EPA said industrial pollution sources would increase, causing more air pollution.

If Clark County fails to meet that deadline set in 18 months to curb pollution from new industrial sources, other sanctions could be prepared by the EPA.

If the county misses the February 2001 deadline, the EPA will begin the process to freeze Southern Nevada's federal highway funds. The sanctions will not be imposed if the county submits a final plan that the agency can approve, Marcus said.

The county released a draft plan on Aug. 16 with a 15-day public comment period that expires today, the county's principal planner Clete Kus said. If people miss the deadline, they may make comments to the County Commission on Sept. 21 when a public hearing is scheduled, he said. "We knew that this notice was forthcoming," Kus said.

The EPA is currently reviewing the draft plan for carbon monoxide solutions.

More than 90 percent of the county's carbon monoxide comes from motor vehicles. As the valley grows -- as much as 7,000 new drivers came in July -- the air pollution problem is increasing, the EPA said.

Carbon monoxide replaces the oxygen in the bloodstream, making the heart work harder. It is a special threat to people with heart or respiratory diseases and affects concentration and learning ability in children.

More than 3,000 children 14 years of age and under are treated for carbon monoxide poisoning each year in the United States.