EPA approves dust control plan for Clark County

Tuesday, May 4, 2004 | 10:03 a.m.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced its approval of Clark County's State Implementation Plan Monday, a strategy to clean the Las Vegas Valley's air and control dust pollution in Southern Nevada.

EPA officials signed Clark County's dust plan, which lays out how the valley will meet national air quality standards. The plan will be placed in the Federal Register within 30 days, according to county officials.

The plan requires the valley to meet national standards for fine dust, defined as particulate matter of less than 10 microns in diameter, called PM-10, by 2006, they said. The standards must be met within 24-hour periods.

Major sources of the fine dust are construction, unpaved roads, road shoulders and vacant lots, county officials said.

In January 1993 county officials were required to develop a plan after the Las Vegas Valley was designated as a "serious non-attainment area" for dust.

Air quality officials said the valley needs to meet air quality standards now and not wait until 2006, "because the EPA calculates attainment status based on three years of data."

"It may sound like we have two more years to go to deal with this problem, but the clock is ticking," said Christine Robinson, director of Clark County's Department of Air Quality Management in a written statement. "The EPA will use data from 2004 and the next two years to determine whether we pass or fail in 2006."

Jennifer Anderson, an air quality activist for the Southern Nevada Sierra Club, said "more needs to be done, sooner."

Anderson said the plan's problems lie in the fact that it does not address BLM lands or motor vehicle emissions.

"That's (motor vehicle emissions) what contribute to the haze that we see -- the most dangerous type of particulate matter," she said. "That's the stuff that gets into the lungs and causes cancer."

Anderson also faults the plan for lacking contingency measures.

Officials said in a written statement that Clark County "cannot afford to fail."

Sanctions could include the loss of millions of dollars in federal highway funds and EPA takeover of local clean-air programs, they said.

Still, County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury said Monday's approval marks a significant achievement for Clark County.

"Years of hard work are paying off for this community," he said in a written statement. "Approval of this plan means we're not only making progress in our efforts to control dust pollution, we're finally winning the war."