Expired permits threat to clean water

Tuesday, March 14, 2000 | 11:25 a.m.

Nevada leads all states in expired permits to discharge treated waste water, effectively issuing industries a license to pollute water sources, two national environmental groups said.

Allen Biaggi, chief of the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, disagreed with the way Friends of the Earth and the Environmental Working Group assessed the problem, and said the state is enforcing pollution limits on the permits, even though they have expired.

Seven of 10 major permits listed for Nevada in Environmental Protection Agency files had not been renewed as of mid-January, the groups said in a review released Monday.

The four expired permits in Southern Nevada belong to Titanium Metals Corp., Clark County Sanitation District and the cities of Las Vegas and Henderson.

They all discharge into the Las Vegas Wash, which flows into Lake Mead, Southern Nevada's major drinking water supply.

Under provisions of the Clean Water Act, the permits must be renewed every five years.

On average, Nevada environmental officials take up to 1 1/2 years to renew the permits. One had expired more than three years ago, according to the groups' report.

"Nevada's permit backlog is the worst among all the state-run programs," the groups said in a prepared statement.

Only a Washington, D.C., program run by the EPA is worse than Nevada, the environmental review said. There, all four major discharge permits had not been renewed for a 100 percent failure rate.

"If you or I were driving a car or operating a small business without a valid, up-to-date license, we'd be fined or arrested," Larry Bohlen, director of the Friends' health and environment programs, said.

"Factories and sewage treatment plants should not be allowed to operate with expired permits," Bohlen said.

But Nevada's Biaggi noted that although seven permits had expired, the pollution limits were in full effect, and the state was working to put new, tougher limits into place.

"When permits expire, they still remain in effect," Biaggi said. "They are fully enforceable."

Biaggi spoke to the Sun from Oakland, Calif., where he met with federal EPA officials Monday.

Although the Nevada Environmental Commission had adopted discharge limits a year ago for the wash and the lake, the state was awaiting federal EPA approval, he said.

"We consciously did not adopt new regulations until the EPA had a chance to review and approve them," Biaggi said.

And Biaggi didn't like the groups' attack on Gov. Kenny Guinn, saying he failed to do something about the tardiness in the permit process.

"The governor has been extremely aware and supportive of the discharge program," Biaggi said.

Alexis Strauss of the EPA's Water Division in San Francisco said Nevada is in better shape than most of the state-run programs as well as those under the federal agency's jurisdiction.

The EPA and state environmental officials have been meeting to settle the Las Vegas Wash and the Lake Mead standards, she said. Strauss estimated Nevada would have its permits up to date within six months.

Mary Manning covers environmental issues for the Sun. She can be reached by phone at (702) 259-4065 or e-mail: manning@lasvegassun.com