LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – As cleanup of a contaminated old mining site near Lake Las Vegas continues to make way for thousands of new homes, this weekend neighbors say blowing dust blanketed the area as wind gusts reached around 50 miles per hour. They say water trucks are supposed to be there stopping that from happening. Monitors around the old Three Kids Mine site run 24/7 taking air quality readings.
Clark County said three complaints came in about the dust over the weekend. They have investigated one so far and the site was found to be in compliance, but they are still investigating the other two.
“I’m sitting here in my office and watching all this dust blow by,” that was the update Irene Bjorklund sent FOX5 Sunday. Pictures were also shared by another neighbor in Lake Las Vegas who wants to remain anonymous, also upset with the blowing dust.
“The dust is really what has been bugging us…our eyes are burning…and our windows are really coated in powered crud you really have to scrape to get off,” Bjorklund told FOX5.
FOX5 has met with the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection on site both before and after remediation work began. It is their job to monitor air quality making sure that particles left behind at the old manganese mine operational from 1917 to 1961, toxic metals like arsenic and lead along with asbestos, aren’t exposed and then picked up by the wind.
“There is dust control monitoring equipment located around the perimeter of the site. There are four stations. One upwind and three downwind to make sure that the containments do not leave the site. Those collect data for dust on a continuous basis. The results for that are available on the website,” reported Alan Pineda, Project Manager at the site for NDEP.
Neighbors are especially worried since permitted blasting that could last up to two years is set to begin within the next month.
NDEP tells FOX5: “Blasting will not occur within the boundary of the mine site, which is where the cleanup is taking place…soil outside of the mine site boundary is native, unimpacted soil.”
Air monitoring daily reports are uploaded on the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection website: NDEP AIR MONITORING DAILY REPORT
The last report uploaded was on Thursday. Data from this weekend has not yet been published.
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