Pollution rules for Apex area weighed

Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2001 | 9:12 a.m.

New rules to clean up the air in the Apex area are on the way, Air Quality Assistant Director Catherine MacDougall told Clark County commissioners on Tuesday.

But the head of the Apex Industrial Park warned that the rules "will make it very difficult to develop" for the heavy industrial purposes that prompted the creation of the park. Adam Titus, park president, said the new dust-control rules unfairly affect the industrial park, although the park didn't create the dust pollution problem.

The industrial park, which is a privately owned and managed company, had hoped to lure industrial users out of the Las Vegas Valley. The concept has been on the drawing board since the 1988 PEPCON rocket-fuel explosion in Henderson.

MacDougall told the commissioners, who also serve as the county Air Quality Management Board, that they have several options in dealing with air pollution in the Apex area.

But the department staff warned the commissioners that something must be done, or the Environmental Protection Agency would officially designate the area for failure to maintain air quality.

MacDougall said the county and Air Quality Department staff are trying to pick a middle path between doing nothing -- which would trigger federal action -- and the most stringent possible rules.

Four "exceedences" of air quality standards in the past three years require action, she said.

"The objective that we have is lower the (dust) levels in the most flexible manner possible, with the most local control, rather than wait for the EPA to tell us what to do," MacDougall said.

The full commission will hold a public hearing and can vote to adopt new rules for the Apex area Nov. 20.