Mustang Ranch owner fined for EPA violation

The old Mustang Ranch buildings are once again caught in a federal regulatory snafu.

This time it's with the Environmental Protection Agency, not the Internal Revenue Service.

And it concerns asbestos, not racketeering.

The EPA fined Lance Gilman, who owns Mustang Ranch buildings, $23,000 for improperly removing asbestos from the historic bordello before he moved it next door to his Wild Horse Adult Resort & Spa off Interstate 80 east of Reno. It is a violation of the Clean Air Act.

Gilman said Friday he will pay the fine, but the allegations of unsafe asbestos removal are untrue. He said that he'd rather pay the fee than start paying litigation fees for a case against the U.S. government.

"It's kind of like big brother spanking the hell out of me and they get a $23,000 tithe for it," he said.

Laura Gentile, EPA spokeswoman, said the Mustang Ranch allegations concern proper wetting of the asbestos.

"When asbestos fibers become airborne they can lodge in the lungs," she said. "Anyone handling it must keep the asbestos wet to prevent it from being airborne, and he didn't do that."

Gentile also said that Gilman didn't notify the EPA 10 days in advance before starting the work. She said a resident complained and reported fibers floating in the air. She said no health cases have been reported.

Gilman said his asbestos removal contractor "went in and put up plastic and were in suits and they did wet the entire thing."

But Gilman said he didn't give the EPA 10 days notice on moving the building because he didn't know that he was supposed to.

"The fellow moving the building was not aware of the fine print," Gilman said.

Gilman said he wrote the letter, presented it to the EPA and waited the 10 days before moving the brothel. The Mustang Ranch parlor has been in its new location since September.

The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection was also called to investigate asbestos allegations at Joe Conforte's Mustang Ranch. NDEP spokeswoman Cindy Petterson said the investigative team found no environmental or health impacts resulting from the Mustang Ranch move. The team did find that pieces of the building were being stored in a depression in the ground before being transported to the Lockwood dump.

Lisa Monroe, a Sparks consultant hired by Gilman, said she was brought onto the project after they started to move the buildings. She noticed a disturbance in the asbestos and called in the specialty removal company to do the cleanup and additional asbestos removal. Monroe said the company did the job properly.

- Contact reporter Becky Bosshart at bbosshart@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.

Mustang History

• Lance Gilman bought the Mustang Ranch property and its name on eBay for $145,000 from the Bureau of Land Management. The old brothel was carried in pieces by truck and helicopter to its new home beside the Wild Horse.

• Joe Conforte took over the 104-room ranch in 1967. It became the state's first legal brothel in 1971.• The Mustang Ranch has been closed since the IRS seized it in 1999 after the conviction of the bordello's manager and its parentcompanies in a fraud and racketeering case. Conforte fled to Brazil to avoid tax charges more than 10 years ago.