Dust-control plan nearing completion

Friday, June 9, 2000 | 10:20 a.m.

Meetings

Years of work by local government agencies, construction-industry representatives and environmentalists should come to a conclusion next week, as a plan to control dust pollution in the Las Vegas Valley is formally unveiled.

But next week also is likely to begin the process of a related piece of political theater -- the breakup of the Clark County District Board of Health and the creation of a new air-pollution control agency, Clark County Commissioner and County Commissioner Erin Kenny vowed Wednesday.

Kenny said the reorganization plan -- which would split up the Health District's health and air pollution arms, merging the latter with Clark County Comprehensive Planning's air-quality team -- will be on the agenda for a county Environmental Advisory Committee meeting Wednesday.

The local governments -- the county and cities of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson and Boulder City -- should have the reorganization plan on their agenda for approval as an interlocal agreement in early July, she said.

On Monday, the Health District will have a final workshop on the proposed rules to control "particulate matter," fine dust, an essential component of a new regional plan being drafted by the county Comprehensive Planning Department.

The proposed regulations address wind-blown dust from open areas and vacant lots, unpaved roads, alleys, easements and parking lots and construction sites. The rules could cost private and public landowners hundreds of millions of dollars, government officials have predicted.

The Health District board should vote on the rules June 22, and the Clark County Commission should vote on the overall plan in early July.

The time line is tight because the county must submit the plan to the federal Environmental Protection Agency by the end of July in hopes of receiving necessary federal approval. Without that approval, which could take 90 days or more, federal sanctions will limit the region's ability to plan new road construction, receive federal highway funding and control local development decisions.

The rule changes, agency reorganization and meetings come against a backdrop of scathing attacks on the Health District's air pollution staff from a private consultant and local environmentalists.

Dr. Donald Kwalick, the district's chief health officer, said the attacks have demoralized and frustrated staff members who have worked hard to produce the rules for the new dust plan.

Many of the criticisms included in a draft report from Environ, a California-based consultant that scrutinized the district's pollution control efforts, focus on problems that district employees are aware of and have been working to correct, he said.

In the wake of the draft report delivered to a state subcommittee, State Sen. Jon Porter, R-Henderson, called for a swift and sweeping reorganization of the district's Air Pollution Control Division.

Kenny responded with a plan, which she says has been under development for months, that will create the new, reorganized agency to handle air pollution issues.