City Council approves air quality committee

Thursday, Sept. 21, 2000 | 10:51 a.m.

The Las Vegas City Council on Wednesday approved the creation of a transition management committee to guide the creation of a new air quality agency in Southern Nevada.

The city will fund $10,000 of the total $150,000 needed for the committee's establishment. The committee was also approved Wednesday by the North Las Vegas City Council, and has previously been approved by the Henderson City Council.

The Clark County Commission held off on a similar vote Tuesday, citing concerns about the funding allocations and whether the committee is needed.

Each of the cities and the Regional Transportation Commission will fund $10,000 of the committee's yearly expense. Clark County and the Clark County Health District will fund $55,000 each.

Las Vegas City Manager Virginia Valentine said she hoped the county would reconsider the interlocal agreement.

"We think that this serves a really important function," Valentine said of the committee.

The committee would help establish the new air quality agency. That agency was proposed, in part, to address carbon monoxide and dust matters in the region's air that caused the Environmental Protection Agency to label the region a "nonattainment" area. That designation threatens future federal highway funds.