Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

EPA is cracking down on environmental crime

A North Las Vegas furniture maker had to spend $241,000 to reduce smog emissions. A homebuilder had to spend $193,000 to restore wetlands in southwestern Las Vegas.

If builders and manufacturers think they can come to the Wild West atmosphere of Nevada and wreck the environment with impunity, they'd better think again.

That's the message behind an annual report from the federal Environmental Protection Agency, which has stepped up enforcement of environmental laws to keep pace with the area's population boom.

"In areas of high growth, we need to make sure companies are doing what they should," said Wayne Nastri, the EPA's regional administrator for the area that includes Nevada.

In the past year, Nevada companies had to pay more than $700,000 in EPA fines -- a fivefold increase from the previous year, Nastri said. And they had to spend $2.5 million making their operations more environmentally friendly, compared with zero previously.

"In terms of our enforcement, EPA is certainly on the beat, so to speak," Nastri said.

But the money companies spend bringing themselves into line with regulations shouldn't be seen as punishment, he said.

Rather, it should be seen as rewarding those companies' environmentally friendly competitors, who shouldn't have to compete with firms that are basically cheating to save costs.

"Environmental crimes are really economic crimes," he said. "There needs to be a level playing field."

A few big settlements from EPA actions account for most of the Nevada money totals for fiscal 2004.

The $241,000 spent by Capital Cabinet Corp. in North Las Vegas went to purchasing technology that will reduce the smog-forming compounds its plant emits by 50 tons per year, EPA reported.

That's significant in an area where air pollution is a growing concern, Nastri said.

The $193,000 to be spent by KB Home will go toward restoring wetlands at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, EPA said.

The builder was ordered to stop work at the Huntington subdivision construction site, west of Fort Apache Road, when it was found to be illegally filling tributaries leading to the Las Vegas Wash and Lake Mead without a federal permit.

The agency's biggest action in Nevada in the past year came outside Las Vegas, about 60 miles to the northeast. The J.R. Simplot Co. agreed to pay $525,000 in fines and install pollution controls worth $2 million for its silica sand mining facility in Overton.

The facility's violations of the Clean Air Act were releasing an annual 150 tons of excessive sulfur dioxide, which can cause health problems, acid rain and smog, EPA said.

Some of the agency's penalties were comparatively small but still had the potential to reverberate across an industry, serving as a deterrent, Nastri said.

For example, Las Vegas' Dollar Tree Stores was fined $4,400 for selling cat flea and tick collars containing a pesticide banned by the EPA because it posed a danger to children, EPA reported.

"If we find violations and take enforcement action, everybody else will be much more inclined to make sure they're in compliance," Nastri said.

Other Nevada actions included:

* Las Vegas trenching contractor Western States, which had allegedly violated Clark County dust regulations 11 times during a period of years, agreed to reduce fugitive dust emissions, said to be a major problem in the dry, construction-heavy county. The company also agreed to pay a $40,000 fine.

* Two Reno business owners landed in prison for environmental violations. Dean Roberts, owner of Axis Environmental, was sentenced to six months in prison and three years' probation for mishandling asbestos. Russell Calkins of Aetron Corporation received six months' house arrest, 250 hours community service and five years' probation for contaminating workers and the Truckee River with mercury.

* Another Reno company, Universal Environmental, was found to be transporting polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, without notifying authorities as required by the Toxic Substances Control Act. The waste transport company received a warning.

* Water systems in Truckee, Carson City and Elko were ordered to begin monitoring for 12 potential contaminants, including perchlorate.

Nationally, the EPA estimates that its actions in the past year stand to reduce pollution by 1 billion pounds -- half a million tons -- and will require $4.8 billion in cleanup efforts, a record for the agency.

Across the country, the EPA, working with state and local agencies, conducts inspections, investigates violations, and takes legal action against polluters.

As a result of the enforcement done in fiscal 2004, the agency estimates that 4 million more Americans will have safe drinking water.

It says 1,300 acres of wetlands will gain protection and 3.4 million cubic yards of contaminated soil will be cleansed as a result of the actions.

archive