Editorial: Sensors a good way to monitor the air

Thursday, April 4, 2002 | 8:59 a.m.

We've all passed them or had them pass us on the highways -- cars belching so much exhaust that it became hard to breathe even with the windows closed. For this week only, remote sensing devices are in use at five high-traffic locations in the Las Vegas Valley. The chief purpose of the sensors, which are set up once a year, is to gather emissions data that officials with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles use to study the effectiveness of air-quality measures, such as oxygenated fuels and smog tests.

Additionally, the sensors pinpoint individual vehicles that are violating emissions standards. License plates are photographed and owners will be summoned to the DMV's testing site on Sahara Avenue, where their exhaust will be tested at no cost to them. If their vehicles flunk, the owners will be asked to make repairs and they could have their registrations canceled if they do not comply within 30 days -- a penalty the state has never yet had to impose and we hope it never does. Privacy advocates have honest reservations, but the remote sensing and penalty are allowed by state laws passed in 1995. The laws were passed under pressure from the EPA, which wanted to see efforts made to bring Southern Nevada into compliance with federal emission standards, a feat that continues to elude us.

Nevada has a law banning similar unmanned technology to catch speeders and other traffic offenders. But we have a higher stake in air quality. Carbon monoxide, for example, an invisible poison created by malfunctioning engines, gets into lungs and then into the bloodstream, where it restricts the flow of oxygen. We see remote sensors as an effective tool in the fight for cleaner air.