Sunday, June 12, 2022 | 2 a.m.
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Four years ago, my husband and I moved to our current home, near Sunrise Mountain. We were drawn to this neighborhood because it was quiet, with a lot of children and a location that was convenient to the nearest schools. But lately, we are grappling with the many ways Las Vegas’ air pollution hinders our ability to raise strong, healthy kids.
Three of our children have asthma, and so do I. We live near the busy traffic on Nellis Boulevard and next to an electrical power substation that attracts lots of work trucks. All of these vehicles are polluting the air my family breathes, and we are facing greater health problems as a result. After the move, my husband and children dealt with constant headaches. Asthma attacks became more frequent and more intense, with wheezing, chest pains, and even hospitalizations after the kids played outside.
I’ve learned that many other families in the valley face similar struggles. Clark County has an F grade from the American Lung Association for ozone pollution, which comes from vehicles and forms choking smog. I began talking to other moms at my church and we exchanged tips on how to avoid asthma attacks and ways to safeguard our lungs and our health. These tips included restricting our children’s outdoor play time. This was especially difficult during the pandemic. I could see the disappointment in my kids’ eyes when they were left with very little outside time.
It breaks my heart that my kids can’t have a regular childhood, playing outside with their friends like I did as a kid, because of how bad the pollution is here. Year after year, more vehicles put more miles on our expanding roads. Big diesel buses, and semi trucks in particular, are a huge contributor to poor air quality. Because of the impacts of this heavy pollution, my family is tempted to move to a place with more trees, more land and less traffic. But instead I’m calling on policymakers to make Las Vegas healthier for families like ours.
The American Lung Association released a new report, “Zeroing in on Healthy Air,” which describes the health benefits of zero-emission transportation and clean electricity. Nevadans could save an estimated $7.5 billion in public health costs — but more importantly, avoid nearly 700 premature deaths and 14,800 asthma attacks — by transitioning toward electric buses, cars and trucks. Nevada needs to shift toward environmentally friendly transportation as soon as possible, and this report is further proof. My family would love to make the switch, especially since gas prices are through the roof and it now costs almost $100 to fill up our Kia Sedona.
Thankfully, state leaders are taking action. Last year, Gov. Steve Sisolak’s Clean Cars Nevada initiative was adopted, which will begin to bring more low-emission and electric vehicles for sale in the state. The Legislature also passed a bill requiring NV Energy to invest $100 million into the state’s electric vehicle charging infrastructure, $40 million of which focus on historically underserved communities. My hope is that measures like these will help families like mine get access to these clean air solutions.
I have noticed more and more EV charging stations popping up in malls and near the Strip but fewer close to home. I hope this program leads to more chargers everywhere my family goes — including grocery stores, coffee shops, parks, libraries and movie theaters. With enough chargers, we could even rely on an electric vehicle for our family’s California road trips.
But that’s not all. Recently, Sisolak announced that Nevada is joining other states in reducing emissions from medium-duty and heavy-duty vehicles. This would make a big dent in the pollution coming from semis, buses, work trucks and delivery vans in my neighborhood, including the trucks that visit the substation yard next to our home. But there’s so much more to do, and our kids can’t wait. I ask our elected leaders to do more for families like mine who desperately need clean air for our kids to breathe.
Natalia Powell lives in Las Vegas with her husband and their six children.
