No more dust mitigation measures at the Oceano Dunes? State Parks proposes new plan
For the first time since 2017, California State Parks is proposing no new dust reduction measures at Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area.
The agency released a draft work plan and report on Aug. 1 detailing how its current efforts to reduce the amount of unhealthy dust pollution blowing into inland communities from the park have succeeded.
The plan and report will then be reviewed by the scientific advisory group that guides State Parks on its efforts to reduce dust emissions from the dunes, and then the San Luis Obispo County Air Pollution Control District, before it is approved.
More than 705 acres have been set aside at the Oceano Dunes for dust mitigation work since 2013.
This year, State Parks has added about 90 acres of dust mitigation measures in the dunes. And in October 2021, the agency closed a nearly 300-acre snowy plover exclosure area to off-roading after the California Coastal Commission mandated the seasonal closure become permanent.
State Parks has primarily used wind fencing and native vegetation plantings as its dust mitigation methods.
Off-roading is prohibited in all areas with dust mitigation measures — although it is still allowed in about 850 acres of the park, according to State Parks.
The dust mitigations have resulted in an emissions cut of 40.8% compared to baseline 2013 levels, according to State Parks.
“State Parks’ dust control program has made substantial progress in reducing PM10 mass emissions and ambient air concentrations,” the Aug. 1 plan and report by the agency says.
But as things stand now, a 40.8% reduction is not enough.
In 2019, State Parks and the Air Pollution Control District entered into a stipulated order of abatement that set a court-ordered process for reducing dust emissions at the dunes.
It requires State Parks to reduce emissions at the dunes by 50% compared to 2013 baseline levels, with a target of 2023 to comply with the stipulated order of abatement.
However, in February, the scientific advisory group that guides State Parks’ dust mitigation work released a report detailing how a 50% reduction in dust emissions from the dunes may be too much.
The goal set out in the stipulated order of abatement compared emissions at an air quality sensor downwind of the riding area at the dunes to an air quality sensor downwind of an undisturbed dune area near Oso Flaco Lake. But dunes near the Oso Flaco air quality sensor are significantly covered by an invasive weed species that naturally reduces emissions, therefore skewing the target, according to the scientific advisory group.
The group therefore suggested modifying the stipulated order of abatement to require State Parks mitigate emissions at a lower standard: Down 40.7% from 2013 baseline levels.
That’s based off new research that calculated how much dust was emitted naturally from the dunes in 1939 before off-roading became a wildly popular activity in the park area by the early 1970s.
So, State Parks has technically met that suggested new goal.
“State Parks, therefore, plans to petition the SLO APCD Hearing Board to modify the requirements of (the) current” stipulated order of abatement, the agency said in its Aug. 1 report. “State Parks’ petition will be consistent with the SAG’s defensible, scientifically justified basis for recommending revisions to the current” agreement.
There is a chance that State Parks’ petition to change the stipulated order of abatement will be denied, which would mean the 50% target would still need to be met by the end of 2023.
The next hearing board meeting is expected to be held on Oct. 14.
This story was originally published August 9, 2022 at 5:44 PM.
CORRECTION: This article was updated with the correct date of the next APCD Hearing Board meeting.
