New dust rules may pass soon

Thursday, Feb. 24, 2000 | 11 a.m.

New rules designed to combat dust pollution from construction sites, roads and vacant lots could be passed by the Clark County Health District board by late April, the director of the county's Air Pollution Control office said Wednesday.

The rules are loosely based on those in place for Maricopa County, Ariz., home to Phoenix.

Michael Naylor, Air Pollution Control director, said the rules should be ready for a public hearing March 26 and a vote by the health board April 27. Naylor said he would like to see the actual implementation of the rules to come one year later to give the private sector and local governments time to budget for the potentially costly requirements in the new rules.

Among the proposed rules: restricting access to vacant land, requiring almost any vacant property that has been disturbed to receive dust-control measures, and setting up test methods to identify property that might generate dust.

The region has about a year to get federal approval of a plan to control fine dust, known as PM10 by regulators. That dust, finer than the width of a human hair, can go deep into the lungs and cause health problems, the federal Environmental Protection Agency has said.

During a workshop to discuss the rules Wednesday, construction industry representatives also distributed an alternate ordinance that includes most of the rules proposed by Air Pollution Control and Clark County Comprehensive Planning.

The alternate set actually improves on the county proposal in some ways, said Russell Roberts, Clark County air quality planner.

In some cases the industry rules would be more stringent, he said. For example, the industry's rules would stop all construction work within one hour of wind speeds above 45 mph recorded at McCarran International Airport.

"This is a sign they understand they're part of the problem and want to be a part of the solution," Roberts said.