Clark County public defenders have been evacuated from their longtime office space, according to a union official.
The move comes weeks after a letter to the county asserted that the building “poses unacceptable health risks.”
The letter, dated May 15 and written by attorney Ryan Gormley at the firm Claggett & Sykes, said that the public defenders’ building at 309 S. Third Street has been contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls, chemicals commonly known as PCBs. A stark, modernist structure near the Regional Justice Center in downtown Las Vegas, it was built in the 1960s and has been owned by the county since 1980, records show.
“We represent several individuals who currently work, or previously worked, in the Building and who have suffered significant illnesses, including but not limited to cancer—conditions that scientific literature has causally linked to PCB exposure,” the letter said, according to a copy acquired by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “While we continue to evaluate the full scope of the medical and scientific evidence, we anticipate asserting claims arising from and related to PCB contamination in the Building.”
The letter demanded that Clark County preserve relevant evidence and stated that the building was unsafe for occupancy.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, polychlorinated biphenyls are man-made chemicals that were used for things like electrical and heat transfer equipment until their manufacture and importation was banned in 1979, “based on mounting evidence that they were toxic to human health and the environment.”
David Westbrook, president of the Clark County Defenders Union, said public defenders learned Monday that the building had to be vacated by the end of the day Thursday.
As of Friday, public defenders’ office staff and staff from the county law library, which was also housed in the building, had been “evacuated,” he said.
“The reason is the presence of PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl) contamination in the building,” Westbrook wrote in a text.
In a Friday statement, county spokesperson Stephanie Wheatley denied the building was deemed uninhabitable.
“After initial testing, the County plans to develop a plan for source testing and any needed remediation,” she said.
In an email Monday, the county told staff: “No time frame is currently available as to when employees will be able to return to the building. As such, please take anything that you may need to conduct business or personal items you are not comfortable leaving behind.”
The county’s immediate plan, the email said, was to move some staff to another county building and have others work remotely or hybridly.
An announcement on the law library’s Facebook page said it would be temporarily closed until further notice.
Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com.
