Friday, April 9, 2004 | 11:02 a.m.
Reducing smog Clark County residents can help reduce ozone, also known as smog, in summer months. Clark County has a free service that sends air quality advisories for ozone to pagers or e-mail accounts. Information about the service is located on the public communications page of Clark County's Web site. The direct link is: www.accessclarkcounty.com/direct]connect. Actions residents can take to reduce ozone include:
The federal Environmental Protection Agency is ordering Clark County to write a plan for curbing ozone, the smog that forms when the sun cooks a stew of airborne chemicals and pollution.
The agency told state and county officials on Thursday that Clark County and 300 other communities nationwide had failed to meet a new, stricter health standard for ozone set in 1997, air quality officials said.
Most of the communities are located in Sunbelt states. Beginning April 15, they will have to write plans to meet the standard. Clark County has already followed the process for carbon monoxide and dust and the EPA is expected to approve those plans this year.
But ozone has been a growing concern in the valley since the federal government adopted a stricter standard that survived court challenges.
"This designation doesn't mean our air quality is getting substantially worse," Christine Robinson, director of the county's Department of Air Quality Management, said.
If state and local officials fail to develop a plan to meet the health standard Clark County could face federal sanctions that can include everything from federal involvement in local solutions to withholding of federal highway funds.
The potential costs to the community and to individuals will not be available until the county writes a plan, Robinson said.
The county has eight studies underway on how ozone forms in Southern Nevada's summertime air.
"Ozone is a very complex pollutant," Robinson said. Sources as diverse as gasoline-powered engines from vehicles to lawn mowers and paint thinners contribute to the ground level urban smog that casts a brown pall over the Las Vegas Valley.
Ozone aggravates respiratory illnesses such as asthma, bronchitis and emphysema. Healthy people who are active outdoors on high ozone days also can experience symptoms ranging from coughs and nasal congestion to itchy eyes.
Ozone in the upper atmosphere, however, protects Earth from the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays.
Between May and September of 2003 Clark County logged 10 days of unhealthy ozone, including eight in the Las Vegas Valley. In 2002 the county recorded five unhealthy days and three in 2001. The EPA used data from those three years to decide Clark County's status, Robinson said.
A monitoring station at Joseph Neal Elementary School, northeast of Rancho and Craig roads, repeatedly recorded ozone levels above the new limit, and that "was enough to get us on the (EPA's) list," Robinson said.
EPA officials notified Gov. Kenny Guinn of the ozone designation Thursday.
"We don't know how the area will be classified," Guinn said. "We think Clark County is most likely to be classified as 'marginal non-attainment,' which is the least severe of the classifications and allows the most leeway to address the problem."
Clark County's ozone season typically lasts from May 1 through Oct. 1, when sunlight, high temperatures and stagnant air conditions tend to trigger the pollutant.
The county monitors for ozone at 14 locations. Depending on weather conditions, ozone tends to build up during the day and become unhealthy in late afternoon. Ozone drops after sundown.
The situation is similar to what the county encountered with carbon monoxide, Commissioner Bruce Woodbury, a long-time air quality advocate, said. During the 1990s one monitor on East Charleston Boulevard measured carbon monoxide levels high enough over a three-year period to tip Las Vegas into non-compliance, he said.
"If one site exceeds the standard in a geographical area, the whole area gets classified as nonattainment," Woodbury said.
Commissioner Rory Reid called the designation "a disappointment, but not a surprise, given some of the challenges we face with growth in Southern Nevada."
He said ozone would be considered as part of the county's growth management initiative.
Growth may be a critical factor in the failure to meet clean air standards, said Dan Geary, senior organizer in Nevada for the National Environmental Trust.
"So much of what is happening is the fast pace of growth," Geary said. He urged state and local air quality officials to seek assistance from the federal government.
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