Wednesday, March 19, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Toxic emissions from the largest chemical users in Nevada were 8 percent higher in 1994 than five years earlier, the Reno Gazette-Journal reported on Wednesday.
Washoe County leads the state in the amount of carcinogens released into the environment, increasing more than 9 percent during that time, the newspaper said.
The trend was just the opposite in Carson City and Douglas County. In Carson City, chemical pollution was reduced nearly 73 percent, while in Douglas County it fell nearly 87 percent.
As Nevada seeks to ween itself from an economic base dominated by tourism and gaming by luring other industries, more toxic pollutants can be expected, officials said.
But they added that levels of such pollutants still remain within legal limits and are strictly regulated.
"It's not a Chicken Little story that the sky is falling," said Ken Lynn, director of the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada. "There are standards out there and the companies are required to meet them."
Chris Ralph, an environmental engineer with the Washoe District Health Department, agreed.
"Even though over five years we had an 8 percent increase, that's not a significant problem," he said.
Business and economic development officials said that state's goal is to attract industries that don't pollute.
"As we draw more and more businesses to Nevada, we have the potential for increasing emissions that come from those businesses," said Kevin Dick of the Nevada Small Business Development Center.
"What we are doing is trying to help those businesses to be as clean as possible when they move to the state."
The newspaper analyzed emissions data on cancer-causing or probable cancer-causing materials that manufacturers are required to report to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
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