OUTDOOR SOUTHWEST - Desert Magazine of the Southwest

sity remained low, this situation was accepted as right
and normal.
The justification for using no controls on pollutionproduction
processes may be simply stated as being
based on economics. Air currents provided the easiest
and cheapest way to get rid of the dust by-products. As
people settled nearer to the mill or smelter, troubles
began. Industry claimed that since it was there first
it had a prior right to continue in its old ways. The
newcomer, though, claimed that they acquired a property
right to the clean desert air when they purchased
their piece of ground. Just because industry had been
using more than its rightful share of the air-in effect
squatting on air in the public domain-this did not mean
that it could continue this habit indefinitely. The cattle
rancher versus farmer tribulations of the early West
is being closely duplicated by the industrialist and homeowner
of the present day. The question then was whether
anyone had the right to an unfenced range.
THE QUESTION HAS NOW BECOME: HAS ANYONE
THE RIGHT TO UNLIMITED USAGE OF THE AIR, TO
POLLUTE AS HE WILL?
The desert farmer, too, contributes to air pollution
through some of his practices. The burning of crop
refuse can smoke up an entire valley, as may be seen
in such favored places as the Coachella and Imperial
valleys. Crop spraying and dusting can be a serious
air pollution problem at times. Some materials, such
as 2-4D, used in weed control, prove to be plant-damaging
as far as 10 miles from the site of application, the
result of a gentle drift of the toxic material with the
wind.
ON THE OTHER HAND, THE FARMER IS OFTEN ON
THE RECEIVING END OF THE POLLUTION PROBLEM.
Crops and livestock may be affected by fluorine compounds
released by steel mills, and by sulfur dioxide
from smelters. A special case involves modern pollutants—radioactive
materials dusting the herds in southern
Nevada and eastern Utah, the aftermath of the atomic
weapons testing in Nevada. Farmers downwind of the
Southern California smog belt find their susceptible
crops showing increasing symptoms of air pollution injury.
For example, the alfalfa stands of the Antelope
Valley in the southwestern corner of the Mojave Desert
have shown the effects of smog, still potent after crossing
a mountain range—potent enough to wither and scar
the alfalfa leaflets.
This potency is the direct result of the peculiar chemical
reactions that occur in the atmosphere after the
smog-forming materials are released into the air. A
large source of hydrocarbons—gasoline vapor—acted on
by sunlight and allowed to combine with nitrogen oxides—the
result of any type of burning—results in the
eye-stinging smog of Los Angeles. As this cloud of
pollutants moves inland, pushed by the westerly winds,
the reactions continue, forming a whole series of everchanging
compounds. Gradually the eye-irritating portions
disappear but the plant-damaging materials linger
on.
THAT AIR POLLUTION IN DESERT AREAS IS TAKEN
SERIOUSLY BY CONTROL AGENCIES MAY BE SUR-
MIZED FROM THE FACT THAT ROUTINE AIR AN-
ALYSES ARE BEING MADE IN DESERT COMMUNITIES.
The Riverside County Air Pollution Control District
AGRICULTURE BURNING SOUTHEAST OF INDIO IN THE COACHELLA VALLEY OF CALIFORNIA
October, 1961 / Desert Magazine / 15