2/22/12
OCEANO - Another lawsuit pertaining to the Oceano Dunes is headed to court. This time, government agencies are under fire.
On Wednesday, the Friends of the Oceano Dunes organization will head to court. The members are trying to have a controversial dust rule over turned. "The lawsuit is challenging the validity of the rule and we believe the rule is fully valid and the process that was used to adopt it was a good process and we believe that it will be upheld in court," says Air Pollution Control District Manager Larry Allen.
The new rule requires that the State Parks Department meet California particulate matter standards by mid 2015 or face a thousand dollar per day fines for exceeding state standards at the park.
State Parks is working to set up some mobile monitoring stations in the dunes that will measure dust levels. The goal of the rule is to protect the health of downwind residents by reducing the amount of dust particles blowing out of the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area, this according to the Air Pollution Control District.
The Friends of the Oceano Dunes claim that he A.P.C.D. failed to publish an adequate notice of the mid-November 2011 public hearing held prior to the dust rule's adoption.
It also claims the A.P.C.D. pulled a "bait-and-switch" by providing one rule to the public and changing it three days prior to the hearing. "The sand at the Oceano Dunes has been moving for thousands of years. That's how the Nipomo Mesa was created and to assume that the sand will stop moving as soon as you remove OHV recreation does not make sense," says Friends of the Oceano Dunes President Jim Suty.
A scientific study released by the A.P.C.D. in 2010 shows dust emissions from the popular park are creating health problems for Nipomo Mesa residents, although not everyone sides with the claims made in the study.
The friends claim there is no scientific evidence showing that it is the off road vehicles causing the increase in dust emissions.
According to the A.P.C.D., State Parks is on track to meet the first deadline set in the new dust rule by February 28. The agency must submit a plan for selecting where permanent dust monitoring stations will be.
The stations will compare the amount of dust coming off the riding area with the amount from a nonriding area.
