Officials: Dust regulations necessary, but not easy

Friday, April 28, 2000 | 10:26 a.m.

A public hearing on proposed regulations to control airborne dust drew only a few speakers Thursday morning -- and all the speakers agreed that the rules are necessary to prevent the loss of federal highway dollars.

But the road to actually adopting and implementing the new dust rules appears to have a few potholes in it.

The Clark County Health District and Clark County staff members, among other local agencies, are struggling to draft a plan to control the fine, airborne dust that the federal Environmental Protection Agency has ruled a health hazard.

The dust, smaller than the diameter of a human hair, is referred to as particulate matter 10, or PM10. Regional agencies have until January to get a rule in place and approved by the federal government or planning work for new roads will have to stop. The loss of federal highway funds or a federal takeover of local planning decisions could follow if a plan fails to get EPA approval.

Among the rules the EPA has said must be in place are controls for vacant land, unpaved and paved roads, even parking lots and utility easements -- all sources of windblown dust.

Mary Kincaid, a health board member and Clark County commissioner, reminded the public that these rules will be very expensive.

She said it will cost local agencies $20 million to $40 million to comply with the rules, plus undefined costs to enforce public and private compliance. The private sector has a two-fold burden -- paying for the public compliance and bringing their own properties into compliance, Kincaid said.

Bruce Arkell, Clark County Public Works special projects coordinator, echoed Kincaid. He said rules requiring paving or treatment of rights of way would cost an estimated $30 million -- money that the county hasn't budgeted.

Leslie Long, a city of North Las Vegas environmental engineer, agreed.

"It could be enormous. It could be an enormous impact on all local governments," she said.

Kincaid said tax increases would be necessary to pay for the dust-control compliance, sapping the economic vitality of the region.

Kincaid's fellow health board member, Clark County Commissioner Erin Kenny, said failing to abide by the federal mandate also would hurt the regional economy. She said the loss of federal highway funds -- which total about $200 million for the state annually -- could cripple the area. "I think the broader picture is the EPA coming into our community," she said. "We have to spend the money."

Kincaid suggested the region could fight the EPA regulations by forming a coalition with other states that have been hit hard by federal "implementation plans," plans that have in some cases restricted the ability of regional governments to build new highways or promote development. Those regions include Atlanta and Phoenix, both areas with federal implementation plans.

Michael Naylor, air pollution control director for the health district, and Russell Roberts, Clark County air quality planner, told the board that much of the work drafting the new rules is done, but some revisions have to be made.

The pair said last week that adoption of the rules, originally scheduled for the end of this month, would need to be delayed by about 60 days because of the revisions.

Of particular concern are the proposed rules on unpaved roads, which would include utility-company easements. The rule as now proposed would require all unpaved roads, rights of way and easements to be paved within 18 months. Roberts said that can't realistically be enforced.

He said rule drafters are seeking "the right rule, stringent enough to get reductions but not so strict that it can't be complied with."

Several proposals to handle the issue are on the table. Roberts said a phased-in system is needed, paving or treating one-third of the roads or property each year over a three-year period.

He said a targeted system is needed in which the biggest problem areas, those kicking up the most dust, would get treated or paved first. Options include targeting roads that carry more than 150 cars and trucks a day, or roads on soils that produce the most dust as determined by a satellite survey.

"Common sense tells us that we don't have to pave every mile of road in the valley," Roberts said.