Lyon County may analyze ASG's investigation of a plant explosion

FERNLEY - The Lyon County Commission will call a special meeting as soon as possible to decide if commissioners want to spend up to $20,000 to monitor Advanced Specialty Gases' investigation of its July 30 explosion in Dayton.

The commission held back Thursday from committing to approve hiring a consultant to analyze ASP's investigation, pushing aside pleas from Commissioner Bob Milz to set aside money for a consultant right away.

"Unfortunately, you don't have the facts I have," Milz said.

Milz said he and District Attorney Robert Estes have additional information about ASG that Milz could not immediately reveal. Estes was unavailable for comment.

"I talked to Mark Zusy (at the Nevada Division of Environment Protection) yesterday," Milz said. "We have information that needs to be looked into. That is a good reason to approve of having a consultant."

The rest of the commission, however, did not have the same inside information Milz, Estes and Zusy have.

Commissioner Dave Fulstone insisted on meeting with officials from ASG, the State Fire Marshal's office and the NDEP before committing county money.

"I think we ought to go about this in a well-planned program rather than shoot from the hip," Fulstone said. "I want them in front of me telling me 'this is what we're going to do."

None of these entities were represented at the Thursday commission meeting.

"They didn't feel strong enough to come here today," said Commission Chairman LeRoy Goodman, who joined Fulstone in resisting the urgings from Milz.

ASG hired a Concord, Calif., firm called Exponential to investigate the cause of the July 30 explosion at the nitrogen trifluoride production plant between Dayton and Mark Twain. Nitrogen trifluoride is used to clean ovens used in the silicon chip industry.

The plant is one of only three in the world producing this gas and NDEP and the local fire department do not have the expertise to monitor the investigation, said Bill Driscoll, chief of the Central Lyon County Fire Protection District.

"We don't have the technical resources to analyze the data and findings they present," Driscoll said.

The investigation is under way and expected to finish by the end of October. Milz hopes to have a county-hired consultant working together with Exponential before the investigation is complete.

"We don't need to jump at it today," Fulstone said. "We need more information to make an intelligent decision."

The ASG plant has been shut down since the explosion and county officials hope the plant does not restart production until the investigation and potential consultant have finished work.

Goodman said a special commission meeting will be called as soon as a time can be agreed upon for officials from NDEP, ASG and the fire marshal's office to come to Yerington. The commission met in Fernley on Thursday.