Feud over air quality intensifies

Monday, March 5, 2001 | 11:40 a.m.

In an escalating confrontation between the Legislature and the Clark County Health District, a state senator has vowed to move a bill to force the district to do an examination of a controversial air-quality program.

State Sen. Jon Porter, R-Henderson, will bring the "emergency bill draft request" before the Legislative Affairs and Operations Committee on Tuesday.

"This is a question about public trust," Porter said today. "It's not about finger-pointing, it's about restoring trust."

Porter said the need for an audit of the emissions reduction credit program, administered by the health district's Air Quality Division, become evident after consultants reviewed the program last summer.

Environ, California-based consultants, found "serious deficiencies" in management at the division and suggested that the emissions program should have a thorough audit.

The emissions program has been a target of fierce criticism from environmentalists. Critics charge that the program, which trades the right to put pollution into the air from industrial sources in exchange for reducing pollution from dust, ran without adequate supervision and may be tainted by influence-peddling.

The bill draft will be heard before the Legislative Affairs and Operations Committee at 2 p.m. Tuesday and can be attended via satellite link in room 4412 of the Grant Sawyer Building, 555 E. Washington Ave., Las Vegas.

Critics say that the program essentially allowed some companies to pollute while other companies made money by selling the emissions credits.

"There seems to be a lot of discussion about possible improprieties," Porter said. "They owe it to the community to clear up these past charges and allegations. We need to put this to rest."

An audit is the only way to determine if wrongdoing occurred in the program, critics and Porter agree.

State Sen. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, last week asked for a special hearing of the subcommittee to force the health board to OK the audit.

Failure to conduct the audit soon will confirm suspicions that wrongdoing occurred in the program, Titus and Porter said last week.

Despite the bipartisan consensus in Carson City over the issue, district health board member and Clark County Commissioner Erin Kenny has vowed to fight the audit.

Porter's move "shows contempt for local government," Kenny said Friday.

Kenny said the issue for the district board is closed. The board has voted to table an audit at least until a review of what needs to be changed in the emissions program is completed, a process that could take four to six months.

Porter's subcommittee demanded the audit before the close of the legislative session in June, a timetable that would be impossible if the district board sticks to its guns.

Kenny said she does not want to spend the money on an audit of a program that will most likely change dramatically in the coming year. Las Vegas-based consultant Hobbs, Ong and Associates, which had performed a program review of the entire district Air Quality Division earlier this year, has submitted a $560,000 price tag.

The money is needed for staffing and enforcement of new air quality regulations passed by the district board in response to a federal mandate to clean up the air, Kenny said.

"If the state is interested, they should hire Hobbs, Ong," Kenny said. Porter, however, said he doesn't believe that the audit should cost anywhere close to a half-million dollars, putting the likely price tag at around $50,000.

He said state auditors will come up with an independent cost estimate of the program investigation.

Titus agreed that the cost should be much lower than the Hobbs, Ong estimate. The original proposal included numerous provisions for studying ways to revamp the emissions program. Those duties don't need to be performed to look at the past record, she said.

But health district staffers and Kenny say that a more comprehensive look is needed.

The smaller cost "is a ludicrous notion," Kenny said.

"This may be a bookkeeping issue. It may be a criminal issue. Who knows?" Kenny said. She argued that only a thorough and costly review would reveal wrongdoing in the complex program that has gone through numerous revisions in a decade of operation.

Kenny said the district will use its lobbyists in Carson City to fight Porter's bill. If the bill passes despite district opposition, the issue could go to the courts.

"We'll have to look at what our legal options are," she said.

Titus said she believes a state order would survive a legal challenge from Clark County Health District. Porter agreed.

"I will expect that the health district will pay for the investigation, and expect that it will be concluded before the end of the session, if not earlier," he said.

Air Quality Division Director Christine Robinson said she will attend the committee hearing to speak against Porter's bill. Robinson, who took over the helm of the troubled division last year and at that time welcomed the audit, said an examination at this time is premature.

The division is drafting new rules to cover the emissions program, she said.

"If there are components of that program that are kept, we would not object to an audit of those components," Robinson said. "I am looking for the future ... The money should be spent in a way that improves air quality."

The final decision of whether to do the audit should rest with the health district board, she said.