Thursday, Nov. 21, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
Clark County air pollution control officials have fined Rhodes Design & Development Corp. $3,000 for dust plumes at the company's Elkhorn Springs development in northwest Las Vegas.
Developer Jim Rhodes contested the Aug. 1 violation brought by a health district enforcement officer that dust clouds 600 feet long swept across the 200-acre site at Cimarron and Farm Roads.
Although Rhodes signed the dust permit, attorney Greg Walch said the developer had subcontracted work at the site to Southern Nevada Paving and other companies, including three owned by Rhodes.
Walch asked for the health district's Air Pollution Control Hearing Board to dismiss the violation against Rhodes.
But enforcement officer Alan Basher described the site's soil as "dry, very loose and powdery" with trucks and heavy-haul equipment raising dust every five minutes.
"When I got out of my vehicle, I sank up to my ankles in the soil," Basher said.
Basher said he spent 45 minutes trying to find a supervisor at the site. As he left the area, a water truck arrived.
Mark Kennedy, executive vice president for operations at Rhodes Homes, said the site had three water trucks when he checked earlier in the morning, the number required under the permit.
"I think this is bogus at best," Kennedy said. "What we're guilty of is not changing the dust permit." Under health district rules, the name of the company on the permit is responsible for pollution violations.
Kennedy admitted he had shut down the Elkhorn site on more than one occasion when dust could not be controlled. "There's dust out there," he said. "I just think you're chasing the wrong person."
Board member Jack Greco said he was uncomfortable with the $5,000 penalty requested by Air Pollution Control Division staff, because no photos were available from the site. He recommended the $3,000 penalty approved by the board.
Earlier during Wednesday's 10-hour hearing, the board considered a request by Rhodes to blast 350 acres of clay conglomerate out of its Rhodes Ranch master-planned community site in the southwest valley.
Dust from blasting, no matter how much rises into the air, does not violate current air pollution regulations, a fact that angered board members.
Nearby residents complained that a wall of dust choked them in the afternoons and weekends when the company is not allowed to blast.
"I think you're doing a disservice to the whole valley (by allowing blasting)," Harold Long said. "Your mandate should be to clean the air up, not make it worse."
Robert Demick, another Rhodes neighbor, said he had not suffered asthma until Southwest Opportunities Limited Partnership began blasting on the Rhodes site. "My asthma has recurred," he said.
The company was cited by the health district Sept. 16 under a corrective action order. That is a preliminary step before a notice of violation is issued, but because blasting is not in the pollution regulations, the board's hands were tied.
Rick Nielsen of the Clean Air Alliance said that dust is considered a major health threat and that Southern Nevada violates federal pollution standards. The Las Vegas Valley is a "serious" nonattainment area, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
"The health district is not fulfilling its duty to protect the health and safety of those living here," Nielsen said.
Board Chairwoman Ann Zorn promised to ask the district Health Board to revise the standards to include dust from blasting.
"Dust has grown exponentially and has to be addressed for those who live in the valley and to preserve the quality of life here," she said.
Greco said that Rhodes is saving about $1.3 million a day by blasting rather than removing the rock-hard soil by conventional digging.
"It's a window of opportunity for industry to do a pre-emptive strike on problems in the valley," Greco said. He noted that Rhodes had discovered a loophole in the law while a single bulldozer operator faces thousands of dollars in penalties.
Greco said he feared that the federal government might stop all construction in the valley if dust is not settled by the year 2001.
archive
