Reform sought in pollution monitoring

Monday, Oct. 16, 2000 | 11:22 a.m.

A legislative subcommittee recommended sweeping changes Friday to the way air quality is monitored and protected, while also asking for a thorough audit of the way the existing agency handles a controversial air pollution control program.

The Subcommittee on Air Quality Programs in Clark County also endorsed efforts by regional governments to revamp the existing air quality programs in the county, an effort now led by the Southern Nevada Regional Planning Coalition.

The recommended legislation will go to the Legislature early next year. The review and restructuring of the existing air quality apparatus comes after a year of effort to comply with federal mandates to clean up the air around Las Vegas, the resignation of the Clark County Health District's Air Quality Division director and accusations of improper handling of the health district's emissions reduction program.

The program allowed companies to buy emissions "credits" from the health district or other companies to put more pollution into the air.

Among the subcommittee recommendations:

* Require audits of the regional air quality program every two years by an independent contractor, approved by the state.

* Assign the "lead role" in setting regional haze standards to the state.

* Require the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection to evaluate and recommend dust suppressants.

* Initiate an "air quality forum" to bring together local, state and federal agencies; Nevada universities and other stakeholders to address air quality issues.

* Adopt California's emission standards for new cars and evaluate the need for lower vehicle emission standards in Clark and Washoe counties, and evaluate the applicability of those standards to the rest of the state.

* Work with the state's universities to develop a training program for air quality professionals.

* Do more to promote clean-burning alternatives to gasoline for cars.

The subcommittee also endorsed a greater state role in air quality monitoring and enforcement activities across the board.

"It's unfortunate that the state had to step in," said state Sen. Jon Porter, R-Henderson, the subcommittee chairman, but the state role is necessary because of ongoing concerns with the effectiveness of the regional air quality programs.

The subcommittee's actions also endorse the plan of the Regional Planning Coalition, an advisory board made up of local governments, in pooling the air quality functions of the health district and the Clark County Planning Department.

That was one of the major recommendations that came out of an investigation and audit performed for the subcommittee by California-based Environ. The company presented the final form of its report to the subcommittee Friday.

The subcommittee also received a report from the Clark County district attorney's office on results of an investigation into a possible conflict of interest into the emissions-reduction credit program.

The health district's Air Quality Division director, Michael Naylor, had found that Graphics West, a local printing company, did not not need to buy $50,000 to $60,000 in emissions credits in 1994. Naylor is married to the ex-wife of the brother of Graphics West's owner.

Staff in 1999, however, found that the company should have purchased the credits.

"Although the conduct may have been inappropriate, I don't believe the requisite criminal intent can be demonstrated," investigator Joel Moskowitz said in his report.

Moskowitz recommended that an independent audit be done on the program, an option that local environmentalists have long asked for.

Christine Robinson, a Clark County planner hired to take over the Air Quality Division beginning next month, suggested that the audit could be included in a larger program evaluation that the Health District board approved last month.

And Dr. Donald Kwalick, health district director, suggested that previous audits of the emissions-credit program done for the agency might suffice.

But subcommittee members wanted a separate study. State Sen. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, said the audit needs to be by a company that hasn't worked for the Health District in the past.

"I just want to be sure that somebody does it, somebody independent and uncompromised, and that they do it now," she said.

The audit would still have to be approved by the health district board. But Titus and Porter said the state will do it if the district doesn't.