Public-private panel to tackle pollution woes

A blue-ribbon panel of 35 people from the business community, public sector and local governments has been formed to tackle Southern Nevada's growing pollution problems.

The group, called the Environmental Advisory Panel, met Tuesday night at the Orleans hotel-casino to begin mapping out a strategic plan, Clark County Commissioner Erin Kenny said. The panel will confront the pollution problem on five fronts -- air, water, cost, planting of trees and the establishment of alternative transportation modes such as bicycle routes and walking trails.

"Government can't do everything alone," Kenny said. "The only way to get change is to partner with the business community."

Kenny said the panel has already begun gathering information to develop proposals that will be put on the 2000 ballot for voter approval. The commissioner felt an environmental program could be financed with matching federal grants without raising taxes.

A major problem with air pollution in the Las Vegas Valley, Kenny said, involves pollen from mature olive and mulberry trees that were planted in older neighborhoods. She's suggesting developing a tree farm where homeowners could exchange their trees for nonpollenating ones.

The county passed regulations in the 1980s banning the planting of olive and mulberry trees.

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