Improved air quality in the valley requires multipronged approach

Viewed without proper context, a recent report on air quality in metros across the United States would seem to offer great news for Las Vegas. The report, based on air quality data collected by the Environmental Protection Agency, revealed that Las Vegas experienced 96 days of elevated air pollution in 2020. That was significantly fewer days than in 2016 and 2018, when the valley endured more than 140 days of elevated pollution each year.

But those numbers alone are misleading. The reality is that our air is relatively bad compared with other cities, that last year was an outlier and that climate change is creating conditions that will make air pollution worse.

Our 96 days of elevated pollution in 2020 came when the pandemic significantly reduced air and vehicle travel — and the emissions that come with it. Traffic counts on the highways leading to Las Vegas were down 12% overall in 2020 compared with 2019, and were down 39% from March through May of 2020 compared with the same period a year earlier. Meanwhile, air passenger counts at Mccarran International Airport plunged nearly 60% last year.

Cars and aircraft are key contributors to air pollution, so it stands to reason that our air benefited from the reduction in traffic and flights last year.

But that dip in emissions only would have lasted until tourists flooded back to Las Vegas and local residents went back to work and school. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority reported that traffic on highways leading to Las Vegas was up nearly 30% through August of this year compared with the same period in 2020, including increases of 140% in April, 61% in May and 49% in March. If smoke from wildfires is as bad this year as it was in 2020, we can expect this year’s air quality data to be even worse once the full year’s worth of it becomes available.

“As our driving has picked up in 2021, you can be sure our vehicle pollution has kept pace,” said Matt Casale, environment campaigns director with the U.S. PIRG Education Fund, which partnered with the Frontier

Group and the Environment Nevada Research and Policy Center to produce the report. “If we want to make a dent in these terrible numbers and save lives, we have got to wean ourselves off of burning fossil fuels to get around.”

True, and doing so will also help address the wildfires that are another significant contributor to our poor air quality. Global warming, which is driven largely by greenhouse gases created by the burning of fossil fuel, has resulted in climate changes that have greatly increased the severity and scope of wildfires.

Solutions from the Environment Nevada Research and Policy Center include adopting some of the elements of President Joe Biden’s infrastructure package, which includes increased development of renewable energy projects and manufacture of electric vehicles, construction of new energy-efficient schools and other facilities, and upgrades of existing buildings to improve energy conservation.

All of these things are necessary for reasons that go well beyond air quality, but improving our air is critical.

Air pollution doesn’t just inhibit our view of the mountains or make our eyes watery, it can be a life-and-death hazard for people with asthma and other respiratory problems. It also disproportionately affects communities of color and low-income neighborhoods in several ways, one of which is that those areas tend to be located closer to high-pollution sources — chemical plants, refineries, highways, airports, etc. — than predominantly white, higher-income neighborhoods.

Fortunately, Las Vegas wasn’t among the worst cities for air pollution, which predictably included a number in California. Some cities endured more than 150 days of elevated air pollution last year. But our region was the worst in Nevada, followed by Reno with 75 days of elevated pollution. We shudder to think what 2021’s numbers will look like for Northern Nevada, though, after a summer of intense wildfire smoke.

As both Las Vegas and Reno grow, though, reducing emissions is imperative to maintaining quality of life and the health and well-being of residents.

One related need for Las Vegas is a vastly expanded public transportation system that would include light rail. We simply must find a way to reduce single-occupant vehicle travel in our community, whether it’s commuters going to work or visitors making their way through our resort areas. Light rail offers a clean and effective method for that, which is why it’s been adopted in several regional cities. Meanwhile, as reported in a New York Times story published in Wednesday’s issue of the Sun, cities around the world are getting more and more innovative in expanding and electrifying their public transportation. Examples include a gondola system in Bogota, Colombia, electric trams and buses in Bergen, Norway, and the return of electric trains in Berlin.

This is the kind of thinking that should be happening in Las Vegas. We’re falling badly behind other cities in developing public transportation, which is bad for our transportation system and for our air quality.

The good news is that Nevadans have shown solid support for green energy and technology, as shown by resort companies building massive solar arrays to power their properties, and voters passing a ballot question requiring electric utilities to generate 50% of their power from renewable resources by 2030.

But as the air quality report pointed out, we must keep moving this direction, and as fast as we can.

We simply must find a way to reduce single-occupant vehicle travel in our community, whether it’s commuters going to work or visitors making their way through our resort areas.