Clark County employs almost 200 public defenders, whose job it is to provide legal representation to clients who can’t afford an attorney. These lawyers staff one of the nation’s busiest public defenders offices.
At the beginning of July, this busy staff were forced to evacuate their Third Street office after tests showed PCBs had surfaced. PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, are known carcinogens. They have the potential to harm thyroid, liver and heart function. The US government banned their manufacture in 1979.
The president of the Clark County Defenders Union, David Westbrook, alleges the County knew about the contamination — and the ensuing illnesses — for years and chose not to remediate it. He says he and his colleagues grew increasingly suspicious as people continued getting sick…