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APCD moves closer to dust rule for Oceano Dunes

September 30, 2011

The San Luis Obispo County Air Pollution Control District voted to start monitoring and regulating particulate matter in the air downwind from the Oceano Dunes, on Wednesday.

The APCD contends evidence from a scientific study it produced show that off-road vehicles at the dunes are causing an increase in particulate matter downwind on the Nipomo Mesa.

Opponents of monitoring the dunes say the study was flawed and inaccurate and that this is a money grab by the APCD.

If the APCD finds higher levels of particulate matter through its monitoring, it can fine State Parks $1,000 per day.

A public hearing on the issue is scheduled for November 16.


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Who is this ACPD that the article refers to both in the headline and in the body? Any relation to APCD?


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All I know about the County’s Air Pollution Control District involves my experience with them a few years back when a developer took land by fraud with enthusiastic help from the Planning Dept., without notifying the underlying landowners who had a title interest in it. The developer got sued, and the county claimed the “we’ve got no dog in this fight” defense.


In order to punish the homeowners for daring to protest, Warren Hoag and Chris Macek (who puts her dawg in every fight,) got the developers to grant an “avigation” easement to the airspace over the land, which comprised four lots within walking distance to the ocean.


The homes were located in a “no fly zone” of sorts in that the neighborhood was outside of the airspace designated by the county for airplanes. So, in the middle of a residential neighborhood where airplanes were not permitted to fly, there is now a fify by two hundred foot square which planes are permitted to invade.


This type of patchwork airspace is discouraged in practice. But that didn’t keep the county from passing off on it.


To discourage the public from knowing about it, Hoag (whose last name is pronounced “hog”,) held the meeting in a little room inside the Planning Dept. instead of in the old Board of Supervisors chambers in the County courthouse which was accessible to the public.


Macek and Hoag have aggressively pushed for expansion of San Luis Obispo’s airport, claiming this will bring money into the County and be good for the residents. However, their claims discount the increased noise and air pollution. It ignores the increased risk of accident in the residential and small business communities which ring the airport, as more and more private aircraft are invited into the airport property.


In fact, Macek and Hoag’s efforts seemed to focus on bringing one particular company into the SLO airport whose business was designed to provide small jet accommodations to individuals who could afford to pay $8,000.00 a ticket to jet between L.A., Las Vegas and Sacramento. I figured Macek must have been attracted to one of ACI’s early investors in the company, local baseball hero Robin Ventura.


According to one of ACI’s employees, Ventura is no longer with the company, but it’s still in business twelve years later. You can find them in the white pages, the next time your friend Trump wants to pay a quick visit to view the real estate….


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It doesn’t take any kind of genius to open Google Earth and look to the south of the fence that stops the offroaders. Open, blowing sand dunes do not stop where the dune buggies stop. It is a naturally occurring part of nature.


I wonder how they explain how the mesa ( giant sand dune ) got there in the first place? Anyone wanna bet that it was from blowing particulate matter over several millennium?


News Flash: We live on the coast. There is going to be particulate matter in the air no matter what we do.


This isn’t about air particulates, it is about control. The loud, vocal minority do not like the OHV and are using environmental laws to kill it. I only hope that we don’t let these rabid dogs kill our community with their environmental activism.


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choprzrul (),

I agree with you that blowing sand is a natural occurrence and part of living by the beach. But having large sized trucks use the beach at exactly the same speed, and in exactly the same manner as a two-lane highway must necessarily kick up more sand, leaving petrochemicals behind. From your CHP helicopter’s perspective, you know this is no myth.


I have no argument with vehicles on the beach, not because I like it, but because it appears that the majority of Oceano residents are in favor of it. If we put it to a vote (not that we could do anything about it because our Board of Directors already gave Oceano’s beach to the State of California,) I’m sure the vehicles would win.


But do we really need highway vehicles on the beach? Why couldn’t there be some middle ground here, so that only vehicles of a certain size, capable of only maximum speeds of 15-25 mph be permitted on the beach? Other than emergency vehicles, do you really need to go 65 mph on the beach, where families bring their children? This is not a good mix. This is not recreation. This is primarily a male-dominated, agressive sport. The sport is fine, if only there was someway of keeping the trucks off the “sidewalk,” so to speak, where people walk.


Why can’t the OHV buy its own land for the purpose?


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I just can’t believe that in this terrible economy that the county would rely on a board that has proven and admitted that they fudge the numbers. I’m as green as they get but this just doesn’t’ make good sense. They’ll let PG&E stay around, Diablo is a big ticking time bomb waiting for an earthquake and yet what is probably this counties second largest cash cow is being railroaded out. Diablo has the power (no pun) to do a lot more damage than the dunes, hmm wonder why they don’t care about that. Blakslee has more knowledge and is more educated than anyone on that APCB yet they seem to ignore his concerns. Does anyone really think that anyone of them, Hill, Gibson etc. really care about the air quality? Heck no they care about appearances. They are going to destroy the business community of the South County. I have read the study and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that it is simply a flawed study.


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Go Typoqueen!


Twice in a week’s time that I agree with your postings!


Remove the economic engine that is the dunes, and everything from Nipomo to the bottom of the grade will take a severe economic hit. Think house prices are bad now? Just wait and see what it is like a year after the OHV gets closed. Once house prices dive, the riff raff will move in and our little beach community will forever be changed for the worse.


The environmental activists are trying to steal away our very livelihoods. Our way of life. Make no mistake, we are under attack and we stand to lose a lot if they succeed.


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The Sierra Club has done it’s part in this but it’s not really so much environmental groups as it is a few people that own homes ON the dunes that want them all to themselves, it’s pure greed. Nell started this and then others blindly followed.


The Five Cities will turn into Guadalupe if these few people have their way.


There have been no studies to see if there are higher than normal lung issues up on the mesa. We know how human nature is, one person claims that people can’t breath up on the mesa and the next thing you know everyone is walking around coughing and saying they have lung issues There are no monitors in any homes on the dunes to see if the dust is from the dunes. Where’s the data?


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If I am not mistaken, this another political appointment board that makes unfunded mandates based on personal opinions..The use of this public land has been under tremendous scrutiny for years and for the APCD to make claims of dire health issues should be backed by truth and facts..

Example: why is it aqgainst the law for dooryard burning in a community because of air pollution standards yet not more than 20 feet from the community border agricultural burning is allowed year round. This is the same kind of political maneuvering the state region water quality board does and how they selectively enforce rules made up by political appoiitees…


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If our local APCD finds higher levels of particulate matter based on their studies, they may levy a fine against State Parks? Right. I’m sure the the state will pay up just like that. What a waste of staff time no matter what the result of the APCD’s study.


And of course now that the APCD no longer operates under the guidance of our BOS after they gave away the farm last December, this rogue “agency” that is riddled with activists is free to do as they wish. And they will whether it’s L Allen altering forecasts or Arlen-Genet infiltrating other boards.


And does anyone think for a minute that our Chairman of the BOS will chime in with his real wishes regarding OHV use of the dunes? Not on your life, not with an election looming. A Hill will use his guile and political cunning to defer and postpone any real action until after the election.


Ask a So County merchant whose livilihood depends on the OHV users about their opinion of Hill and they’ll say “He promised he wouldn’t support closing the dunes to the OHV’ers” Right.


Give Hill another term and we all deserve what we get.


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Hill is history.


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From your keyboard to God’s eyes.


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I don’t think you need to worry about another term for Hill.


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I wish that were the case but, unfortunately most voters will just check the incumbent box on their ballot. And we don’t know for sure whether Hill will even have an opponent.


Waage has says he may run, based on his evaluation of his chances. As other have said, Ed is a very nice human being. Who can blame him if he chooses not to subject himself to the foul vitriol and nastiness of a political contest with a sociopath like Hill.


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Hill may likely not be re-elected, which makes him doubly dangerous right now… he’s not stupid, he likely sees his political career ending, he has a past history of questionable ethics… I hope someone is watching the books…


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K,

How can the BOS give away their power to guide the APCD? Whom did they give it to?


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