Dust could stall projects at Apex

Thursday, Aug. 2, 2001 | 11:25 a.m.

Nobody lives there, and there are no previously identified environmental treasures.

But high dust in the Apex valley, about 15 miles northeast of Las Vegas, means that a handful of companies already there and companies trying to establish new industrial operations could face high regulatory hurdles.

The Clark County Health District's Air Quality Division announced Wednesday that the Apex area, which includes the Apex Industrial Park, has had at least four instances of high dust levels in the past three years, exceeding federal air quality standards.

Consequently, the federal government could formally designate the area as a "nonattainment area" for fine dust. The Las Vegas Valley has already earned the status, and now has a dust-control plan under review by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

Fine airborne dust is classified as a serious threat to human health by the EPA, and the federal agency acts under authority of the Clean Air Act to control such threats.

For the Apex area, as with the Las Vegas Valley, failure to get an approved plan in place could mean federal sanctions, including the loss of hundreds of millions in funding for roads and other infrastructure.

Christine Robinson, air quality director, said the relatively stringent dust-control measures approved for the Las Vegas Valley would probably go into effect in Apex.

"We want to ensure that any new development meets current standards established valleywide," she said.

The Air Quality Division, which next week will merge with planning functions operated by the Clark County government to form a new Air Quality Management Department, will ask the county commissioners to approve tighter dust control regulations at the commission's Aug. 28 meeting.

Robinson said she believes that the EPA will require a plan to control dust in Apex, as it already has for the Las Vegas Valley. Even without federal action, the county needs to act, she said.

"We are taking a very proactive and aggressive approach to improve the air quality in the Apex valley," she said. "The air quality in Las Vegas has significantly improved over the past few years, and we are confident that swift implementation of our more stringent regulations will ensure that we see similar results in Apex."

The 21,000-acre Apex Industrial Park is slated for the area, and companies moving into the park would be affected by any new regulations. One of the companies planning to locate there is Mirant Energy, which hopes to build a major power plant.

Mirant, though aware of the air quality issue, is still studying the local report to weigh the implications for its proposal, said company spokesman Pat Dorinson.

Officials from the industrial park company did not return phone calls Thursday.

The Apex valley already has several gypsum mining operations, a limestone mine and is the home for the county's major landfill.

Clete Kus, acting assistant manager for the Clark County Planning Department, said the industrial operations are the most likely sources for the dust. He said existing companies could have to pay millions for dust control.

Republic-Silver State, the company operating the landfill, did not immediately return phone calls Wednesday afternoon.

Duane Surman, production superintendent for Chemical Lime, said his company is aware of the dust issues and has spent hundreds of thousands over the past several years to cut dust emissions from the company's limestone quarry.

The company has "been trying to stay ahead of the requirements of the air board," Surman said. The money spent has already dramatically reduced dust from the plant, he said.

The company will spend at least $3 million next year for further dust-suppression equipment, he said.

Ironically, the lime produced at the plant is used to remove pollutants from air and water as well as a host of other industrial, construction and chemical purposes.

Surman said the times when dust is a problem in the Apex valley are the same times when dust is a problem in the Las Vegas Valley -- when heavy winds pick up dust and send it flying.

Ron Smolinksi, Air Quality Division project manager, said his agency still needs to verify the source of the dust and develop strategies to control the pollutant. Until those studies are complete, a full picture of the effect on existing or future companies in Apex won't be available, he said.

"There's a good chance that some of it's from the Vegas valley," he said. "We don't know yet."

He said with the new regulations won't stop the development in the Apex valley.

"The impact of the regulations hasn't seemed to slow Las Vegas development, but it would certainly have a cost impact," Smolinski said.

Smolinski said the federal standards governing air quality don't differentiate between an area with a lot of people -- such as the Las Vegas Valley -- and one with nobody officially living in it at all, such as the Apex valley.

"It's a national statute, so it applies to the whole country," agreed Ken Bigos, EPA associate director for air quality, said from San Francisco.