Tuesday, March 11, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- Motorists in Clark County may be asked to pay an extra $5 a year to repair older cars blamed for most of the air pollution.
Michael Naylor of the Clark County Health District outlined a program Monday for fixing the 25,000 "high emitting cars and pickup trucks that are operating every day in the east central part of the valley."
The proposal will be submitted to the Clark County Commission and the Health District board within the next month, Naylor said.
Naylor told the Assembly Infrastructure Committee that future building projects could be held up in Southern Nevada unless it moves forward in meeting federal air quality standards. The carbon monoxide levels have dropped significantly in the last 15 years, but a monitoring station near Boulder Highway and Charleston Boulevard continues to measure air dirtier than allowed.
"Of the various cost-effective new ways to achieve clean air soon, it appears that the repair of high emitters is the best opinion," Naylor's prepared testimony said.
He said about 10 percent of the older vehicles contribute to about 50 percent of the dirty exhaust emissions in Clark County.
He said the Legislative Interim Finance Committee would be asked soon to allow the state Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety to award a $900,000 grant to Clark County for an experimental program.
Remote sensors would be placed in the Las Vegas Valley to identify polluting vehicles. About 1,250 car owners would be asked to participate in a voluntary program to get their vehicles repaired free of charge.
"It appears that most of these vehicles can be repaired for about $400 but it may cost more," Naylor said.
If the program is successful, Naylor said, a three-year campaign could be started to fix the remaining 24,000 vehicles over a three-year period at an annual cost of $3.5 million.
The state has the option to tell owners of the polluting cars to pay the full bill for repairs or park their car, but many are low-income individuals who don't have the money to pay for the repairs.
Naylor said the $5 fee per motor vehicle would provide $4 million a year and would be the cheapest way of solving the carbon monoxide problems.
If this program works as anticipated, Naylor said, it would be "almost a lock by the year 2000" that the county could comply with the carbon monoxide federal standards.
But Naylor's proposal met some resistance.
County Commissioner Erin Kenny, who was at the Legislature to testify on the air quality problems in Southern Nevada, said there may be problems with the proposal, which she said she had not heard before.
Infrastructure Committee member Pete Ernaut, R-Reno, suggested it might be flawed. He said motorists from Clark County would register their vehicles in Nye County to get away from the higher fee, just as people in Reno register their vehicles in Carson City to avoid smog checks.
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