Quality of air becomes hot issue

Friday, June 29, 2001 | 10:44 a.m.

When it comes to air quality in the Las Vegas Valley, politicians from the cities, the counties, various boards and agencies agree on one thing: Something must soon be done.

The threat of federal sanctions looms in less than two years -- including the potential loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding for highways and water projects and the loss of local zoning control to the Environmental Protection Agency -- unless a funded plan is in place to deal with pollution issues in the valley.

But the issue of who will protect local air quality has erupted as a bitterly divisive issue over the course of one week. Gov. Kenny Guinn last week named the Clark County Commission as the single air quality agency for Southern Nevada.

Policy makers from the cities are battling the move, fearing that county oversight will undermine their independence on land use and other issues.

The two camps -- city and county officials -- squared off at the Clark County District Board of Health and Regional Planning Coalition meetings Thursday. Both boards bring together officials from the cities and county.

The debate turned heated. At one point during the health board meeting Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said the FBI should take a look at the county's operations.

"I'm sure that the mayor did not mean to imply that there would be corruption in the county commission and that is why the FBI would be interested," responded Clark County Commissioner Erin Kenny, who worked with Guinn to designate her agency as the single, unified air quality authority for the region.

"The notion that the county commission can't be trusted is patently unfair," Kenny said.

She stuck to her rhetorical points throughout the meeting: the cities failed to provide funding for a new air quality agency, the county would fund the agency, and "no pay" means "no play" for the cities.

Kenny said the dye is cast, and opposition from the cities won't overturn the governor's decision.

But Las Vegas Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald also argued her points both as a visitor to the health board and as a member of the Regional Planning Coalition. She argued that state law requires the creation of an air quality agency to be done cooperatively with regional agencies, including the planning coalition.

The Regional Planning Coalition had no formal action to take. At the health board meeting, however, Las Vegas City Councilman Gary Reese, a member of the board, called for a hold on any transfer of EPA funding to the new county air quality agency.

The hold, which passed 7-5 despite the opposition of Clark County Commissioners Kenny and Chip Maxfield, North Las Vegas Councilwoman Stephanie Smith, Mesquite Councilman Paul Henderson and Dr. Jim Christiansen, a physician member of the board. Supporters of the hold included the representatives from Las Vegas, Henderson and Boulder City, as well as several other health professionals.

The hold will not stop the Clark County Commission from installing the regulatory apparatus for air quality issues during coming commission meetings, Kenny said.

Stephen Minagil, health district counsel, said he doesn't know what would happen if the health board simply refuses to transfer millions in funding, the physical assets of the district's Air Quality Division and about 90 employees to the county.

The county has asked the health board to transfer those assets, but the governor's designation doesn't force the move, Minagil said.

"We hope the way to work the details is through interlocal agreements, and if the interlocal agreements don't pass, I just don't know what will happen," Minagil said. "We're down a road where entities, at least local entities here, have not traveled.

"We're learning how to get the job done."

But Reese and other city officials hope that the one-month delay in the transfer of assets passed Thursday will give them time to lobby Guinn to reconsider his decision and, consequently, shift the designation to some sort of board with direct participation by the municipalities in Clark County.

Although County Commission Chairman Dario Herrera and Kenny said the cities could be included on an advisory committee to the commission, Goodman and other city representatives said nothing short of a seat at the table will do.

If a compromise can't be found, the cities might make a legal challenge, Minagil said.

"It has to be the local challenge to the governor's authority (to make the designation), and for that the city of Las Vegas seems to have grasped whatever legal issues there are," he said.

Kenny, however, said a court challenge would be a dangerous move, since it would threaten the EPA's acceptance of local air pollution plans. That could mean sanctions that could cripple the growth of the local economy, she said.

Sun reporter

Rebecca Malone contributed to this story.