Henderson May Annex Eldorado Valley Land Containing Asbestos

Officials in Henderson, Nevada, forge ahead with plans to possibly annex and develop parts of the Eldorado Valley despite geologists’ concerns about the presence of naturally occurring asbestos in the ground. While official annexation remains delayed, city officials continue studying the proposal and negotiating with developers, Henderson Public Works assistant director Robert Herr told TV8 News. The city council in June voted to consider the proposal after developers and landowners pitched the idea of building homes and businesses on a four-square-mile site mostly south of current city limits. This comes despite a study two University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) geologists published in 2014 that revealed evidence of naturally occurring asbestos from the Eldorado Valley to neighboring Arizona. Danger Exists Regardless of Asbestos Levels “When you do activities with that soil, it can generate dust that is hazardous,” said UNLV medical geologist Dr. Brenda Buck. “It’s just insane to build these new developments when we don’t even know what the risk will be to the people who live there now.” Herr counters that while the city’s own testing confirmed the presence of the known carcinogens in the soil, the concentration registered below unsafe levels. “Primarily, they come up as nondetect, but we had a few that are less than .25 percent, but we also don’t have any that are above .25 percent in the city limits,” Herr said. Buck maintains no level of the ...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: Asbestos Exposure & Bans Source Type: news