Funding awaited to begin cleanup from floodwaters

Thursday, May 5, 2005 | 10 a.m.

After January's floodwaters receded, a 50-mile-long mess was left along the Meadow Valley Wash, about 65 miles northeast of Las Vegas, state and Lincoln County officials said.

The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, Lincoln County and Union Pacific railroad officials said they have plans to clean up the debris, which includes railroad ties and barrels containing petroleum, but they are waiting for federal funding.

The Division of Environmental Protection is expecting public assistance funds from the Federal Emergency Management Administration so a thorough investigation of all the containers can be done and cleanup can begin, division spokeswoman Cindy Petterson said Tuesday.

The debris is scattered on public lands, which appears to pave the way for federal funds to complete the cleanup, she said.

Many of the drums, barrels and plastic containers are empty, but others have not been examined to determine what they contain and how to dispose of them, Petterson said.

Oil or gasoline remaining in drums or barrels will need to be disposed of in a landfill licensed to handle it.

The debris was spotted as state and federal agencies flew over the area to assess the environmental damage from the winter flooding.

But not everything has been traced back to its owner. Among the debris, investigators discovered auto parts, barrels, drums, plastic containers and other debris, Petterson said.

The material left behind in the wash could have come from anywhere in Lincoln County, so it will be hard to trace the trash to the owners, said Jane Feldman, conservation chairwoman of the Southern Nevada group of the Sierra Club.

"There is also so much illegal dumping going on," Feldman said concerning the sources of the waste stream.

The Union Pacific and the county's power cooperative will pay for cleaning up railroad ties, poles and cable that swept down Meadow Valley Wash and its tributary, Clover Creek, Petterson said.

The state sent an environmental team into the rugged area to investigate the debris last week, Petterson said.

Lincoln County and FEMA are also working with the state, she said.

Meadow Valley Wash flooded after days of heavy rain in January. The floodwaters also damaged Union Pacific's railroad track and mired a train carrying a carload of appliances, chemical tankers and others loaded with contaminated dirt.

Nevada environmental officials did not find any contamination from the train or its contents in the wash, Petterson said.

The Lincoln County Commission is aware of the cleanup activity in the wash, County Clerk Corrine Hogan said.