Kenny’s pollution plan draws fire

Wednesday, June 21, 2000 | 11:25 a.m.

A proposed new agency to handle all of Clark County's air pollution planning and enforcement was blasted from two sides Tuesday at a meeting of the County Commission.

The proposal from Commissioner Erin Kenny would create a new agency unifying the pollution rule-making and planning functions handled by the county's Comprehensive Planning Department with the enforcement and monitoring functions of the Clark County Health District's Air Pollution Control Division.

The proposal is at least in part a response to a recent private consultant's report to a committee of the state Legislature that suggested a unified agency with a large state role.

State Sen. Jon Porter, R-Henderson, has vowed that he will push for legislation creating that agency unless local governments put forward an alternative suggestion within one month.

Kenny's proposal would create a new agency under the oversight of local elected officials. She said she has broad regional support for her plan.

But her support on the Clark County Commission is narrow. Her motion to allow county staff to continue working for an interlocal agreement to include the county and the major cities passed by a 4-3 vote.

Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates said she fears that the Kenny proposal will lock the region into one kind of structure to handle pollution issues while other alternatives haven't been explored.

"Why do we need to change the current structure?" she asked. "Is the current structure broken?"

Gates charged that the legislative consultant, California-based Environ, "had preconceived notions about how things are run."

"And it's different in California than it is in Nevada," she added.

Commissioners Myrna Williams and Mary Kincaid opposed the motion on the grounds that a new agency isn't necessary.

Comprehensive Planning and the health district staff "have been working very well together" as two distinct agencies, Kincaid argued.

"This whole thing is too vague," Williams said. "I'm not sure, conceptually, that creating a whole new bureaucracy is the way to get unity."

Williams and Kincaid also said they aren't happy with the federal airborne-dust pollution requirements that helped spur Kenny's proposal.

The region is struggling to draft plans to control the dust problem, which the federal Environmental Protection Agency has identified as a significant human health hazard.

While Williams and Kincaid essentially are unhappy with the mandate to control the dust problem in the dry desert environment, others who want cleaner air also opposed Kenny's proposed new agency.

Ken Mahal, president of the Nevada Seniors Coalition, charged that Kenny's agency would be controlled by the construction industry.

Mahal, an outspoken critic of the health district's pollution-control efforts, said poor air quality had given him "the worst sinus infection of my entire life."

While arguing for greater staffing and more enforcement -- a point contrary to Williams and Kincaid, who fear increased staffing needs under a new agency -- Mahal predicted that Kenny's proposal will lead to even less enforcement.

"It's going to get worse because there will be no enforcement," he predicted. He said what is necessary to eliminate air pollution problems is to do a thorough audit of the health district.

"Are we afraid in government to find incompetence and get rid of it?" Mahal asked.

Kenny, however, refuted the charges against her plan. She said her plan would keep funding and staffing levels the same as they are now -- but they would be more efficiently handled under a single agency.

While political representatives would oversee policy under her plan, a technical committee would include not just representatives from the construction industry, but people from state and local government agencies and environmentalists, Kenny said.

Kenny also insisted, as she has in the past, that an interlocal agreement will be enough to set up a new agency.

Kincaid publicly joined others in questioning whether such an agency can be set up without revisions to the Nevada state statutes, which spell out the powers for the county and the health district.

Commission Chairman Bruce Woodbury joined Kenny in defense of the proposal. He said the proposal was modest in that it can be substantially modified in response to concerns or ideas introduced later.

The commissioners also heard reports on the pollution front that did not raise the same degree of disagreement. Comprehensive Planning Director John Schlegel reported that a revised plan to control carbon monoxide pollution in the Las Vegas Valley -- a plan the EPA rejected in January -- now has passed federal muster.

The commissioners scheduled a public hearing on the plan for Aug. 1 at 10 a.m. in the commission chambers.

The commissioners also heard a report from Russell Roberts, Comprehensive Planning's point man on environmental issues, on the airborne-dust control plan and new rules. Roberts said the rules and plan, which needs to go to the EPA for approval, should be ready for delivery to the federal agency within the next several months.

Failure to submit the plan for EPA approval at least 90 days before the end of the year could lead to federal sanctions, including a halt to new road planning and eventually a loss of federal highway funds.