Court upholds closure of 130 acres of Oceano Dunes for dust mitigation
New dust mitigation measures at the Oceano Dunes can continue to be installed after an appeal on a San Luis Obispo Superior Court ruling was denied on Tuesday.
The Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles denied the emergency petition filed on April 14 by off-road riding advocacy group Friends of Oceano Dunes that was appealing a ruling by San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Tana Coates.
Coates’ ruling, made on April 11, denied a preliminary injunction and dropped a restraining order against California State Parks that had stopped the agency from installing 130 acres of dust control fencing and vegetation at Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area in southwestern San Luis Obispo County.
Coates noted in her ruling that the harms of not installing the new dust mitigation measures — including possible bad air quality that would harm the health of residents downwind — far outweighed the harms of installing those measures — including possible safety concerns and less off-roading area on the dunes.
In its appeal, Friends of Oceano Dunes alleged that Coates had improperly based her ruling by weighing the harms — instead of whether the group showed with certainty that the California Coastal Commission did not have San Luis Obispo County’s consent to approve the additional dust mitigation measures.
In her ruling, Coates said that she had not made a final decision on Friends of Oceano Dunes’ allegations that the Coastal Commission improperly approved the new dust mitigation measures because of the issue of the county’s consent. Therefore, the court case is still ongoing.
State Parks had previously told The Tribune that it was working to install the dust mitigation measures at Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area “as expeditiously as possible following the lifting of the temporary restraining order.”
The state agency is required to reduce dust pollution from the dunes by 50% by 2023, according to a stipulated order of abatement it agreed to with the San Luis Obispo County Air Pollution Control District (APCD).
However, that goal may change. It is expected to be discussed in an upcoming APCD meeting on June 17 — which was originally scheduled for March 23, but since delayed twice.
Although the dunes are a naturally dusty area, several studies over many years have found that off-highway vehicle use has exacerbated the dust pollution that blows into downwind communities on the Nipomo Mesa.
Low-income residents downwind of the Oceano Dunes can soon pick up free air purifiers from the APCD, thanks to a new Clean Air Rooms pilot program intended to help residents exposed often to bad air quality from blowing dust and wildfire smoke.
The purifiers can be picked up at the Oceano Community Services District office, 1655 Front St. in Oceano, at 9 a.m. Saturday or at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 3.
This story was originally published April 27, 2022 at 12:59 PM.
