Health board clears way for air pollution audit

Friday, March 23, 2001 | 10:57 a.m.

The Clark County District Board of Health on Thursday opened the door to an audit of a controversial air-pollution control program.

The health board asked the Clark County District Attorney's office to conduct the audit.

Thursday's action is a potential compromise between the local health board, which has resisted a quick audit, and state legislators, who last year demanded a speedy audit of the emissions reduction credit program.

Environmentalists within the health district's Air Quality Division have charged that the emissions program, now in hiatus, allowed companies to pollute and profit without adequately protecting the environment.

The program allowed companies to put pollutants into the air in return for reducing pollution from fine dust. Pollution "credits" for controlling dust could be bought, sold or traded as part of the complex program.

A legislative subcommittee last year ordered the health district to fund an audit of the program to identify any misdeeds or negligence.

Health board members, particularly Clark County Commissioner Erin Kenny, balked after a company put a $500,000 price tag on the analysis.

The money would be better spent hiring additional employees, Kenny argued. The employees are needed to enforce new air quality rules implemented in January as a result of a federal mandate.

An audit also should take into account the fact that the emissions program was being thoroughly overhauled because of changes to the county's pollution rules, Kenny said.

The board in February put the audit on indefinite hold.

But state Senators Jon Porter, R-Henderson, and Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, responded with a bill to force the health board to fund an audit, which the state would oversee.

Asking the district attorney to conduct the audit represents a compromise, Kenny said Thursday.

But she took a swipe at the legislators, saying their "intrusion was inappropriate."

Christine Robinson, Air Quality Division director, told the health board that her agency is ready to work with the district attorney's office to identify past problems. The D.A.'s investigators would do the kind of focused analysis legislators want, she said.

"It seems apparent that what's being sought here is less a comprehensive audit than a look back at past practices," Robinson said.

But Kenny said one significant problem remains: Nobody can force District Attorney Stewart Bell to do the audit.

"We will certainly assist in any manner we can," Bell said from his office Thursday. But he said his office will have to consider the request before making a definite commitment.

Assistant County Manager Rick Holmes was involved in discussions toward bringing the health district staffers and the D.A.'s office together. He said the question of whether the investigators for the county have the resources to conduct an audit hasn't been resolved.

But the investigative abilities of the office seem to be geared for the kind of examination the legislators are seeking, Holmes said.

They could "identify and report any impropriety, actual or perceived," he said.

"I think it would be a very good way to approach this," Holmes said.

The county's Department of Internal Audits also could assist in sifting through the complicated financial data needed for an audit, Holmes said.

Titus, working in session in Carson City, said she and Porter had been ready to go forward with the bill this week to force the audit.

The bill is not dead yet, she said.

"We're going to keep that bill active," Titus said. "If the district attorney chooses not to investigate, we'll go forward."

Porter agreed.

"I appreciate that they are taking these positive steps, but we want to make sure that they have clearly defined and committed to a path of a full investigation."