Considering dilemma of dunes dust at Oceano Dune SVRA

Commentary by the Santa Maria Times

Central Coast residents living near the Oceano Dunes have known for years that allowing vehicles on the sand raises a lot of dust. Such knowledge doesn’t require advanced degrees. You can look at the sky and see the dust storm.
Many of those residents have been hammering on local, regional and state officials to do something about controlling the dust clouds. The most popular recommendation from residents is also one of the most obvious, but trickiest — close the dunes to vehicular traffic.
The area is officially named Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area, which is essentially a state-sanctioned, open invitation to RVers and offroading enthusiasts to bring their machines to the dunes.
And those riders’ dollars support any number of local people financially, through the businesses that serve the ATV community. An outright ban on ATV riding on the dunes might hurt as many local people as it has helped.
This problem has morphed into a war of wills, with local residents who fancy taking a clean breath on one side and ATV riders who favor launching vehicles on a quick spin around the recreation area on the other.
The battle has been going back and forth for years, and recently at least one of the fights was resolved — to some people’s way of thinking — when San Luis Obispo County officials signed off on an agreement with the state and Air Pollution Control District to begin working on ways to reduce the air pollution.
It is important that the dust be controlled. Health studies indicate the dunes sand contains silica, a carcinogen, the long-term exposure to which can cause upper respiratory illnesses and even premature death in extreme cases.
That the dust problem needs to be mitigated is beyond doubt. But the recent study raises more questions than it answers — perhaps the most important of which is, how much of the dust cloud is caused by machines, and how much by Mother Nature?
The first phase of the agreement calls for creation of a seven-member technical advisory committee, whose primary task is coming up with a plan to control the dust. The next phase is formation of a nine-member oversight committee, whose responsibility is to wade through plans drawn up by the advisory group.
Seems like a recipe for yet another bureaucratic maze, a bottomless government agency hole into which plans, good and bad, could disappear forever.
Even before the first proposal had been made, area residents questioned the validity of such an approach. The word “flawed” came up a lot. We are inclined to agree. When you have a second committee monitoring the work of a first committee, the likelihood of anything worthwhile being accomplished is remote.
Meanwhile, skeptics made a simple point — they can’t breathe — and an even simpler plea — this issue needs is a moratorium on vehicle use at the dunes until the matter can be settled to everyone’s satisfaction.
Full satisfaction for everyone isn’t likely either, but we aren’t convinced this method of dealing with an important regional issue is worthy.
It’s probably only a matter of time until the no-vehicles-on-the-dunes advocates win the sympathy of a majority of the Board of Supervisors, who could trigger the county’s police powers to close the dunes to vehicles. That would likely set off a turf war between the county and state agencies.
This problem cries out for a compromise, perhaps one allowing vehicles on a greatly reduced section of the dunes, coupled with a program to plant dust-controlling vegetation and put fences around areas where the dust problem is greatest and the habitat is the most sensitive.
The dunes are an incredible environmental asset, an important recreational opportunity for people throughout California, and a vital local economic engine. The dunes also present an obvious health concern for some local residents.
The big questions need to be answered and a practical solution found, without wasting time with a flawed committee structure.