When it comes to the Oceano Dunes, outrage is what our elected officials need to hear now
by Andrew Christie, Chapter Director
For the last six years, California State Parks has failed to meet the directive to bring ODSVRA dust pollution at the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area to levels within state and federal limits.
The full measure of that failure was presented concisely in the May 19 issue of The Tribune, under the headline “Oceano Dunes dust is still a problem – and State Parks isn’t helping, air board claims.”
The article speaks for itself, especially in several truly sobering quotes by the Air Pollution Control Officer for the region concerning the situation on the Nipomo Mesa (“…no one should be outside…” “worst air quality in the nation…”). But the most telling quote comes from State Parks Deputy Director Mathew Fuzie:
“One of the base questions is how much of that is an ecological process and how much do you mitigate a natural process?”
Deputy Director Fuzie is here attempting to re-litigate an argument State Parks has lost. For the two years it was in process, State Parks furiously disputed the Dust Rule implemented by the Air Pollution Control District and the central finding of its peer-reviewed study: The dust plumes that blow off the dunes and create hazardous pollution levels for South County residents are triggered by off-road vehicles. They continued to fight the Rule for five years after it was adopted in 2011, up to and including getting their day in court. State Parks and their local off-road allies presented their “natural process” arguments to a judge, at length. They lost. The nature of the dust pollution from the dunes remains as the APCD described it:
The major findings resulting from detailed analysis of the diverse and comprehensive data sets generated during the Phase 1 and Phase 2 South County PM Studies clearly lead to a definitive conclusion: OHV activity in the SVRA is a major contributing factor to the high PM concentrations observed on the Nipomo Mesa.”
At this late date, based on Mr. Fuzie’s musings, State Parks is still trying to fight the science, sounding like dust-league climate change deniers who are following the creation-of-doubt playbook. This cannot bring comfort to the long-suffering residents of the Nipomo Mesa, nor to the arguably worse off residents of Guadalupe, who are directly in the path of the plume but lack even a single monitoring station. They don’t even know when to stay indoors.
This week, SB 249, a bill to reform State Parks’ Off Highway Vehicles program, will pass or fail in the State Senate. Call Senator Bill Monning today (Sacramento office: (916) 651-4017; SLO office: (805) 549-3784) and let his office know you expect him to vote for the bill.
It needs to pass in order to move to the Assembly, where there will be many opportunities for amendment to address the specific off-highway vehicle problems plaguing San Luis Obispo County.
Fill your lungs and let them hear you in Sacramento: It’s time to solve the problems in Oceano Dunes.