Polluting company has fine cut by county’s Air Quality Division

Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2000 | 11:28 a.m.

A company threatened with a $57,000 fine for putting dust pollution into the air had the fine reduced to less than a tenth that amount during a hearing Tuesday of the Clark County Health District's Air Quality Division.

Staff members had recommended that Barr LLC, a Moapa company operating a sand and gravel pit, be fined $57,000 for putting excessive dust into the air and failure to operate a dust-suppression system on a conveyor belt.

But an agreement reached during a short recess before the issue was to come before the hearing officer settled the fine at $4,300.

Stephen Minagil, health district attorney, said the higher amount was based on double the estimated savings the company could have garnered by failing to install the dust-suppression system, a regular formula for air pollution fines. But the company instead installed the system for only a few hundred dollars, Minagil said.

The violation did not save the company a significant amount of money, he said. However, the company still was cited for putting too much dust into the air during the June 12 inspection that drew the fine.

Minagil said Air Quality Division employees have inspected the gravel pit since the original violation and have found no problems.

Greg Walch, attorney for Barr, said the company strives to avoid any air quality problems.

"We think (the $4,300 fine) is fair and fairly addresses the violation that did occur," Walch said.

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