Friday, Aug. 31, 2001 | 10:42 a.m.
In 1988 a company in Clark County that produced a rocket fuel oxidizer exploded, killing two people, injuring 350 and causing more than $70 million in damage. The Pacific Engineering and Production Co. of Nevada was located in a county island close to residential development in the city of Henderson, a reason why the property damage was so high. So after that explosion the Clark County Commission did the sensible thing and decided to build an industrial park on desolate land 15 miles northeast of Las Vegas -- the Apex Industrial Park.
Thirteen years later the industrial park's developers now want the County Commission to allow homes to be built on that land, a change that would undo the industrial park's purpose, which was to isolate potentially hazardous industrial plants from neighborhoods. The developers say their plans for residential development would ensure that the homes would be safely away from the industrial plants, but even if that's the case -- and that's far from certain -- to let Apex get its nose in this tent would be a mistake. Once homes are permitted in that area there will be an inexorable move to keep changing the zoning's boundaries until one day the neighborhoods will be right next door to the plants.
The passage of time often results in faded memories, something that Apex's developers are counting on as they try to make more money by seeking the construction of new homes. But for people who were in Clark County the day in May 1988 that the plant exploded, a queasy feeling still remains. The memories -- windows rattling, ground shaking and the huge black cloud that hung over Henderson -- are indelible.
Clark County officials at the time pledged that potentially dangerous industrial plants would be far away from neighborhoods. The County Commission should continue to honor its word.
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