EPA cases increase in Nevada

Thursday, Dec. 1, 2005 | 7:16 a.m.

Environmental Protection Agency enforcement actions in Nevada in 2005 increased by 10 over last year, federal officials said.

The EPA's 36 enforcement actions in 2005 will improve air, water and land quality and the health of Nevada residents, said Bill Keener of EPA's Region 9 Office in San Francisco.

The EPA collected $2.56 million in fines in Nevada this year.

Enforcement actions have been climbing in Nevada since 2003 when only two were taken, said Jim Grove of the EPA's Region 9 Office. Last year a total of 26 enforcement actions were taken, and nine were taken in 2002, he said.

Two of the largest settlements this year involved a housing developer and a chemical plant in Southern Nevada.

The EPA fined KB Home Nevada Inc., the largest developer in Las Vegas, a total of $80,000 for Clean Water Act violations at its 160-acre development in southwestern Las Vegas.

KB Homes was ordered to cease work on its Huntington subdivision west of Fort Apache Road in September 2004 to prevent construction debris and other contamination from flowing to the Las Vegas Wash and Lake Mead.

The company was accused of filling washes and tributaries with excess dirt and plants from September to December 2003. Then KB Homes had begun laying pipelines for its homes.

KB Homes officials agreed to cooperate fully with the federal agency.

Under the Clean Water Act passed in 1972, a variety of regulatory and nonregulatory tools are available to drastically reduce direct pollutant discharge into waterways, finance municipal wastewater treatment plants and manage polluted runoff.

The EPA also settled with Kerr McGee Chemical Corp. in Henderson, requiring the company to pay a $55,392 penalty to resolve air permit violations at its plant that began in 1993.

During the EPA's investigation, the company spent $4.8 million to install proper pollution controls at the plant, reducing total carbon monoxide emissions by 115 tons a year, an 80 percent reduction from previous levels.

That is a significant air quality benefit for Southern Nevada, Keener said.

Mary Manning can be reached at 259-4065 or at manning@ lasvegassun.com.