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Study: Haze is caused by humans

Thursday, March 21, 2002 | 9:29 a.m.

A study conducted by the Desert Research Institute confirms what local air-quality officials have long argued: air pollution in the valley is largely due to local, human activity.

The pollution in question was haze -- the layers of smoky gunk that often make it difficult to see across the valley.

The study was funded by the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Clark County Air Quality Management Department.

Air Quality Assistant Director Carrie MacDougall said the study is in its preliminary draft, but the results suggest that haze is a result of people building, driving and using the land in the bowl of the valley.

"What we do know is that the worst of our haze is on the valley floor," she said. "Up to 75 percent of that is generated locally.

"About half of that is from dust. The rest is from soot."

The components of that soot-like mixture need to be studied further, she said, but culprits appear to be exhaust from cars, trucks and diesel equipment and from power plants.

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