Panel hears plan to curb pollution

Stephen Curran

Thursday, Sept. 30, 2004 | 9:40 a.m.

A Regional Transportation Commission advisory committee on Wednesday heard the agency's plan to bring the Las Vegas Valley into compliance with federal pollution laws.

RTC planners said they hoped the commission would approve the plan by November 2005. They outlined the plan for the RTC's Citizens Advisory Committee less than a week after an environmental advocacy group named the Las Vegas Valley 18th in the nation for the number of "smog days," prompted by high ozone levels in the air.

The valley also came under fire Sept. 22, when the Environmental Protection Agency put Clark County on a federal list of "nonattainment areas" for ozone, which required the county to develop a plan to control the pollutant.

Mark Griffin, the RTC's planning manager, said the agency plans to begin developing a technical model to control the pollutant next summer and hopes the commission will approve it late next year.

County engineers have yet to devise a method to measure the amount of pollutant in the air. One proposal would use the emissions level from a given year as a baseline, he said.

Ozone, a primary component of smog, forms at the ground level when nitrogen oxide mixes with volatile organic compounds. It can be especially harmful to those suffering from asthma and related respiratory problems.

If approved, the plan could be fully implemented by early 2007, Griffin told the committee. In the meantime, planners will have to work to develop an interim plan with the federal government, Griffin said.

"It's a new test for the ozone," he said. "But we believe we'll be able to make it."

The RTC is designated by the federal government as a metropolitan planning organization, meaning its members are required to submit plans to conform with national pollution guidelines on an annual basis.

On Sept. 21 Clark County gained federal approval of its plans to control carbon monoxide, which means officials can petition the EPA to remove the county from a list of American urban areas that do not meet federal health standards for carbon monoxide.