Air pollution agency told to fix paperwork

Wednesday, March 13, 2002 | 10:54 a.m.

The Environmental Protection Agency is directing the local air pollution control agency to clean up its record-keeping and quality-control procedures.

However, the audit of the Clark County Air Quality Management Department also found that the local agency is recording and keeping good records of air pollution in the Las Vegas Valley. Officials for the EPA regional offices in San Francisco said the audit results do not threaten progress on the federally mandated local plans to control air pollution.

"What the EPA is saying is that our data is valid, but there are some areas where they would like us to improve," said Carrie MacDougall, assistant air quality director.

The Clark County agency can institute better quality control procedures and written "standard operating procedure" guides for new and veteran workers, EPA environmental protection specialist Robert Pallarino said.

In some cases, not all results from air-quality monitoring stations have been forwarded to the EPA, Pallarino said -- although all violations of federal 24-hour standards have been reported.

"It seems to be a misunderstanding of the requirement," he said.

Bob Hall, president of the Nevada Environmental Coalition, has said the Clark County program hides negative information from its dozens of air-quality monitors around the valley.

Pallarino said his agency found nothing to back up the charge.

"We don't see any evidence of manipulation of data," he said.

At least every three years, areas under the "serious" category for failure to meet federal air-quality standards are audited, he said. The region is in the serious category for both carbon monoxide, a pollutant mostly coming from cars, and fine dust, which mostly comes from disturbed land.