Indy Environment: unprecedented report reveals the strong impact of heat on the health of Nevadans

Good morning and welcome to the Indy Environment newsletter. I’m Amy Alonzo, environmental reporter for India.

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With the winter solstice just two months away, temperatures are finally cooling down, a relief from the unrelenting heat Nevadans have experienced this summer.

From July to September, Las Vegas recorded 74 days above 100 degrees, making it the hottest summer period since records began in 1937.

The city easily broke its own heat record on July 7, when temperatures reached a scorching 120 degrees.

In northern Nevada, Reno set its own record by recording four consecutive days with temperatures of 105 degrees.

Nevadans across the state suffered.

Along with the scorching temperatures, state officials have reported a substantial increase in the number of people seeking treatment for heat-related illnesses.

There were 28% more emergency room visits this summer than during the summer of 2023, according to a first-of-its-kind report published by the Office of State Epidemiology. The 3,750 visits made for heat-related illnesses this year – factoring in everything from mild cramps to potentially deadly conditions like heatstroke – from May 1 to September 22 were also the highest number of visits recorded in the past five years.

Additionally, hundreds of people in the state died due to the heat.

This year, as of Oct. 16, 402 people have died from heat-related factors, according to the Southern Nevada Health District. It marks the highest number of people who have died from heat-related problems than in any year previously recorded. The county’s previous record was 309, set last year, the Las Vegas Review Journal previously reported.

The number of people who died annually from heat exposure in Southern Nevada nearly quadrupled from 2015 to 2021.

The World Health Organization classifies heat as one of the most dangerous natural hazards. Every year from 2000 to 2019, nearly half a million people died worldwide from heat.

But in Nevada, home to two of the fastest-warming cities in the country, heat remains an overlooked issue. While the Southern Nevada Health District tracks heat-related deaths, Northern Nevada Public Health, which oversees the state’s second-largest metropolitan area, does not. Some of Nevada’s more rural counties do not have emergency facilities capable of tracking data.

Efforts to move the heat conversation forward at the state level in 2022 and 2023 have stalled. And although Nevada’s code outlines what conditions health departments must report, and was updated last year, heat is not one of them.

Dividing the numbers

The report, which used data from 41 emergency departments, marks the first time the office has published statewide data on heat-related illnesses.

“This is a great opportunity for us to start getting a sense of who is affected and where they are affected,” said state epidemiologist Jeanne Ruff.

But just tracking emergency room visits also paints an incomplete picture. In some of Nevada’s smaller, less populated counties, there are no emergency services to report data.

The numbers we have show that nearly 90% of reported heat-related visits – 2,890 – occurred in Clark County. With 73% of the state’s population and the highest temperatures in the state, these numbers make sense.

Adjacent Nye County leads the state in visits per capita for heat-related emergency treatment.

Statewide, visits peaked this summer on July 11, when 99 people sought treatment. The temperature reached 118 degrees in Las Vegas that day.

Will lawmakers move forward in the 2025 session?

Members of Nevada’s federal delegation took steps to deal with the heat. Earlier this year, Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) introduced back-to-back bills — Rosen with legislation to expand funding to allow extreme heat to qualify as a major disaster, and Titus with a bill to expand extreme heat mitigation measures.

But at the state level, efforts have largely failed.

In 2022, it appeared the state was beginning to address the problem when former governor Steve Sisolak released a State Heat Plan. The following year, Senator Edgar Flores (D-Las Vegas) introduced a bill that would have established legal protections for workers at risk of heat illness and set the limit for extreme heat at 105 degrees.

But lawmakers were unable to move forward with the bill, and Sisolak’s efforts now appear defunct — links to the plan and the team tasked with implementing it no longer work on the state website.

Which raises the question: Will state lawmakers take responsibility for addressing heat and its effects this upcoming session? We’ll find out in a few months.

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In the weeds

Burn, baby, burn — The Burning Man Project is getting into the conservation business.

Through an agreement that ends a nearly two-year lawsuit with the federal government, the nonprofit arts and culture festival is repurchasing leases issued to Reno-based geothermal company Ormat Technologies and converting the land into a conservation zone .

With the support of Gerlach residents, an area tribe and a conservation society, Burning Man alleged that the BLM allowed exploratory drilling without considering the effects of the project, such as drilling that depleted local hot springs and water supplies. of water, and which illegally segmented the project to avoid a rigorous environmental review process.

As part of the agreement, Ormat will continue its geothermal development outside the new conservation area.

Pump Problems – A new bill signed by Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom could mark the end of fuel price hikes for West Coast drivers — or it could cause them to skyrocket, depending on who you ask.

The bill, intended to curb increases in gas prices, requires oil refineries to maintain a minimum supply of fuel that they can use during maintenance periods, ensuring that there are no shortage-related price spikes during these periods. . But Republicans and oil companies say this could raise prices at the pump, report Lime is importantand it is simply a tool to get people to drive less.

So why does a bill signed in California matter in Nevada? Because Nevadans get their gas from California. Northern Nevada gets fuel from the Bay Area and Las Vegas gets fuel from the Los Angeles area.

As of Oct. 16, the national average cost of a gallon of regular gas was $3.20, but Californians and Nevadans were paying more than that. The average price in California was $4.67. Drivers in Las Vegas paid $3.86, while those in Reno paid $4.34.

As the effects of the Newsom bill unfold, there’s something else to keep an eye on in California. On Nov. 8, California energy regulators are expected to vote on new policies targeting carbon emissions that could increase the state’s prices at the pump by nearly 50 cents per gallon, according to the Los Angeles Times.

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ICE CREAM

Bring the dust – Could Elko’s Ruby Mountains be the West Coast’s next ski destination? A California businessman thinks so.

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Here’s what else I’m reading (and listening to) this week:

• I lived on the East Coast for several years and still have friends and acquaintances in the area. During Hurricane Helene, some of them received almost no rain, while others were in the eye of the storm and are still struggling to access electricity and clean water. This piece of Inside Climate News (published in the break between Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton) looks at some of the science behind why the hurricane hit so hard and how climate warming is thought to have played a role.

• The overwhelming majority of forest fires in the country are caused by humans – campfires left unattended, cigarettes left burning, gender reveal parties gone wrong. A Colorado man was added to the list of random ways to start a wildfire when he started a fire on 7,200 acres after trying to cremate his dog, according to CBS News.

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A closer look

White Pine County Tourism and Recreation has wrapped up an artist residency program with Katie Reim of Oregon, who masterfully captured the wonder of Great Basin National Park in a series of paintings.

We’re taking one last look at the Katie Reim art we shared last week. Here are all three pieces of it together. Which of the three is your favorite?🎨: @final_switchback on IG pic.twitter.com/tLgLFuq05O

– White Pine County Tour and Recreation. (@VisitElyNevada) October 16, 2024