Valley’s summer ozone is worst on record

Friday, Aug. 22, 2003 | 11:27 a.m.

The Las Vegas Valley is having its worst summer yet as far as unhealthful air pollution caused by ozone -- a mixture of auto exhaust, chemical fumes and sunlight that combine to produce a brown haze.

Clark County Air Quality Management officials have recorded 10 days of unhealthful ozone levels since May, Air Quality Management Assistant Director Carrie MacDougal said Thursday.

The breakdown includes two days in May, five days in June, two days in July and one day so far in August,

From 2000 to 2002 Clark County recorded a total of nine days, she said.

"We're always concerned when levels are exceeded for any pollutant," MacDougal said.

A spokeswoman for the federal Environmental Protection Agency in San Francisco said that ozone is a problem throughout the Southwest.

"It's been bad in Southern California this summer, but this is a new challenge for Nevada," EPA spokeswoman Lisa Fasano said.

The EPA is writing guidelines for ozone -- which primarily affects children and people with diseases such as asthma and heart disease -- with categories including extreme, severe, serious and moderate.

Los Angeles ranks in the extreme category, Fasano said, the worst category. The San Joaquin Valley in California is in the severe range, Fasano said.

The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District decided Thursday to postpone a vote to voluntarily boost its ozone violation status into the extreme category.

The new federal guidelines, Fasano said, are expected to go into effect in December.

Meanwhile, Clark County officials are studying the sources of local air pollution. Researchers have set up a monitor at Flamingo Road and Swenson Street to sample the air quality from passing cars and trucks in an effort to determine how much gasoline and diesel contribute to the haze problem.

Results of the study are expected next year, MacDougal said.

On another front of the battle against pollution, the county's Air Quality Management team and the Regional Transportation Commission are working to improve public transit, RTC General Manager Jacob Snow said Thursday. Snow, who said he is well aware of the ozone problem, said more mass transit projects could improve the air by removing vehicles from local streets.

The American Lung Association has been monitoring Clark County for years. It always ranks worst among counties in Nevada in that group's studies. Spokeswoman Celeste Ochal said part of the reason is that Clark County's population dwarfs the population of the state's other counties.

In the past Southern Nevada has run into trouble with air pollution from carbon monoxide and dust. Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas that rises in winter when cold air is trapped in the valley and can be deadly. Dust particles are raised by the wind, construction activities and traffic. Both pollutants are regulated by federal standards.

The Surface Transportation Policy Project, a national group urging upgraded air-quality protection laws, released a study on Tuesday that showed Las Vegas was not in the top 50 metro areas for the number of days with unhealthy air, the percentage of pollution coming from cars and other vehicles, or days with unhealthy ozone levels.

That study did not contain data from 2003, however.

The report found that more than 13 percent of local adults have been diagnosed with asthma, the 17th worst in the country.

Las Vegas fares worse in other studies, however.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a study in 2001 based on 1998 data that found Nevada had the highest rate of asthma in the country, with 7.2 percent of the population affected.