California State Parks has spent millions of dollars over the past four years to achieve a court-ordered goal to reduce the amount of dust blowing into downwind communities of the Oceano Dunes.

On Friday, that target was changed by the San Luis Obispo County Air Pollution Control District hearing board.

Before, State Parks was ordered to reduce dust emissions coming from Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area, which is popular with off-road riders, by 50% to meet state and federal air quality standards. This requirement was carried out through a 2019 stipulated order of abatement entered between the state agency and the county air pollution control board.

The requirement was prompted by countless days on which Nipomo Mesa and other downwind areas recorded some of the worst air quality in the world due to blowing dust from the dunes. Residents in those areas have reported devastating consequences from the poor air quality, including asthma and heart problems.

However, Gary Willey, the county air pollution control officer, said that the stipulated order of abatement had to be revised.

“We started out with this initial target to meet the state and federal standards when we know naturally that’s not even possible,” Willey said during Friday’s meeting.

So, the air pollution control district hearing board modified the stipulated order of abatement on Friday to require State Parks “to eliminate emissions in excess of naturally occurring emissions” from the Oceano Dunes.

“Sand dunes are a natural feature of this area,” APCD senior air quality scientist Karl Tupper said during Friday’s hearing board meeting. “It’s naturally windy, and even if riding had never occurred, we would likely still be seeing some exceedances of the state PM 10 (fine particulate matter) standard.”

“We’re just saying (State) Parks needs to basically eliminate the emissions that ... result from off-highway vehicle activity and contribute to these exceedances,” Tupper said.

Tupper added that the original goal to reduce emissions from the dunes by 50% was “an initial target that was based on the information that we had at the time.”

“We wanted to set an aggressive but scientifically justifiable emissions target to get this process moving in the right direction and to get to where we want it to be, which was to abate the nuisance,” he said. “Since then, the (Scientific Advisory Group) has been created, State Parks has spent millions of dollars on studies and now we have a lot more information today than we did in 2017, early 2018 about really what the contribution of off-roading and vehicular access is to PM 10 downwind.”

Other revisions to the stipulated order of abatement included extending the hearing board’s jurisdiction over the matter by two years, or until December 2025.

In addition, State Parks must now submit its final plan to reduce the excess emissions from the dunes to the hearing board by Oct. 16, 2024.

Some concerned about health impacts of new goal

The hearing board voted 3-2 on Friday to revise the stipulated order of abatement, with members Robert Carr and Robert Lapidus dissenting.

Lapidus expressed concern about modifying the stipulated order of abatement because it took out the goal to meet state and federal air quality standards.

His concern was echoed in many of the people who sent written comments to the hearing board before the Friday meeting, as well as by those who spoke during the meeting.

Several of those comments addressed how the current model created by the scientific advisory group, comprised of experts who advise State Parks on its dust reduction efforts, calls for the park’s dust emissions to be reduced by 40.7% compared to 2013 baseline levels.

A reduction of 40.7% would bring the Oceano Dunes back to what estimated dust emissions were like in 1939, before off-road riding became a popular activity on the dunes.

“Being a person who lives up on the Mesa, I can tell you what’s happening in real life: There is still a plume. There are still exceedances. There is still dust that people are breathing,” said Rachelle Toti, a co-founder of Concerned Citizens for Clean Air, a group which advocates for better air quality on the Nipomo Mesa. “What’s going to happen if the hearing board approves these changes? You are in essence saying, ‘We are not going to abate the nuisance. We’re going to abate 40% of the nuisance.”

Nipomo Mesa resident Dorothy Hines also expressed concerns about the health impacts of dust emissions.

“Evidence surfaces on a regular basis that demonstrate how detrimental continued PM exposure is to the human body; thus ANY reduction in compliance targets should be rejected out of hand,” Hines wrote in an email to the hearing board before the Friday meeting. “Any proposed extension of the stipulated order of abatement term is unacceptable since it would delay compliance with state air quality standards. Again, this is a health issue! Public health overshadows recreation!”

State Parks’ efforts have reduced dust pollution by more than 40%

During Friday’s meeting, State Parks senior environmental scientist Ronnie Glick mentioned that the agency has done significant work to reduce dust emissions from the dunes according to the original stipulated order of abatement goal.

More than 700 acres of the park are permanently off-limits to off-road riding to reduce dust pollution. These areas are now filled with planted vegetation, hay straw or wind fencing to reduce blowing dust.

Another 35 acres is a seasonal endangered and threatened bird habitat enclosure that is fenced off annually from March through October.

The temporary reduction in off-road riding in that area is expected to reduce dust emissions, according to State Parks and the air pollution control district.

As a result, State Parks estimates it has reduced emissions from the park by between 40.8% to 45.1% as of July, compared to 2013 baseline levels.

Had the stipulated order of abatement not been modified, the agency had prepared a plan to add another 106 acres of dust control measures in the park in 2023.

That would have potentially allowed the agency to meet the 50% dust emission reduction goal outlined in the original stipulated order of abatement, according to Glick.

However, because the stipulated order of abatement was modified on Friday, State Parks no longer needs to install those additional measures in 2023.

Instead, the agency must ensure it meets the 40.7% reduction target, and then further study the dunes to establish a “final excess emissions goal” by Oct. 16, 2024.

Some air pollution control district hearing board members noted that that is the best option the agency has to properly regulate dust emissions from the dunes.

“I always wondered: How are we going to get to a point where we’re meeting the federal and state standards when the natural processes won’t let us do that?” asked member James Anderson before the final vote during Friday’s meeting. “So I’m really glad that we’ve come to this potential revision of this stipulated order of abatement so that we can abate the nuisance portion and the portion that’s been contributed by the riding. I think this is a great revision.”

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