HELP Us Protect Our Health
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Invest With Us To Protect The Health Of Citizens In Southern San Luis Obispo County
There’s a significant health hazard blowing over Arroyo Grande, Nipomo and Oceano, California. We often can’t see it or smell it. But it’s in the air we breathe. It’s carried by the wind blowing from the Pacific Ocean, across the Oceano Dunes, and into our communities, homes and lungs.
It’s air pollution known as “PM10 and PM2.5” ... i.e., microscopic “Particulate Matter1” originating on the Dunes, carried here by ocean winds. On very windy days you see this dust suspended in our air. But even when it’s invisible, we’re still inhaling it.
Residents move here with visions of pristine communities, expecting to breathe deeply and take in fresh, clean ocean air. But that’s simply untrue far too much of the time.
So, what’s the issue, what needs to be done, and why is your donation so critically necessary?
1. What Are We Breathing?: These “particulates” (“fine silica particles”) are dozens of times smaller than a human hair. They can cause respiratory problems, heart and lung problems, even premature death ... with children and seniors most at risk. Numerous times, officials have had to warn residents to stay indoors with air filtration on, or even suggested that they leave the area. The huge dust plume is visible from miles away.
2. How Often Are We Affected?: The local Air Pollution Control District agency (APCD) reports that our area exceeds California standards between 70 and 95 days every year ... that’s up to three months of documented, unacceptable air.
3. Where Is It Coming From And Why?: The ACPD’s multiple studies have determined that the particulates come from the Oceano Dunes Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) park. That’s where heavy, uncontrolled, recreational OHV riding has destroyed the vegetation and destabilized the sand’s crust. In effect, the harder, top layer is razed, freeing the particles beneath to be picked up by ocean winds.
This destructive dynamic is documented by the ACPD’s 2010 “Phase 2” study -- “The most significant impact of OHV activity in contributing to high downwind PM levels on the Nipomo Mesa, results from denuding of vegetation and prevention of natural crust formation on the sand surface."
And as this graph shows -- on very windy days, the particulates in the air in these “broken” areas are 10 times higher than nearby vegetated, undisturbed areas.
4. What Are The Solutions?: Recommended remedies include:
• Restoring the areas that have been denuded.
• Expanding the few vegetated islands that remain in the northern riding area, known as the La Grande Tract. (Studies have shown the majority of particulate matter is coming from that tract.) Closing the park itself is not necessary to solve the problem.
5. What’s Preventing Implementation Of Solutions?: For years, local residents have complained to local and state officials about the air quality downwind of the Oceano Dunes Off Highway Vehicle Park. But for five years, the ACPD has been unsuccessful in getting meaningful, permanent, mitigation implemented by the property managers -- i.e., the OHV Division of California State Parks. To date, only temporary measures have been tried with little success.
6. How Have Residents Responded?: In 2014, the grassroots group Mesa Community Alliance, funded by citizens’ donations, filed a lawsuit based on the following regulation. The State Nuisance law aptly describes our situation ...
"If you operate a business which emits enough dust, smoke or odor into the air to cause people in your neighborhood to complain, you will be subject to the Health and Safety Code, the ‘State Nuisance Law.’
“(This law) prohibits the discharge, from any source, air contaminates or other material which cause injury, detriment, nuisance or annoyance to any considerable number of persons or to the public.”
7. You Can Help -- Invest In Our Cause: The activities required to push this problem to a resolution are going well beyond the capabilities of a few residents ... those who have taken money out of their pockets for the “cause.” Now, the Mesa Community Alliance needs your donations to continue the fight. We need your contributions, in any amount, to hire experts, conduct depositions, and continue with the legal process.
We’re not seeking to jump-start a business nor to personally profit from your funding. Every dime will go to help defray legal costs. And we’re not seeking to prevent the use of off-highway vehicles ... just to have them use the dunes in a sane, non-destructive manner.
What we are seeking is to protect our families and entire communities from what is unnecessary exposure to high levels of PM 10 and 2.5 which is detrimental to our health. On behalf of the thousands of men, women and children in southern San Luis Obispo County -- please donate to this extremely worthwhile endeavor.
1. “10” and “2.5” in the “PM” refers to the size of the particle.
2. Based on measurements of PM10.
There’s a significant health hazard blowing over Arroyo Grande, Nipomo and Oceano, California. We often can’t see it or smell it. But it’s in the air we breathe. It’s carried by the wind blowing from the Pacific Ocean, across the Oceano Dunes, and into our communities, homes and lungs.
It’s air pollution known as “PM10 and PM2.5” ... i.e., microscopic “Particulate Matter1” originating on the Dunes, carried here by ocean winds. On very windy days you see this dust suspended in our air. But even when it’s invisible, we’re still inhaling it.
Residents move here with visions of pristine communities, expecting to breathe deeply and take in fresh, clean ocean air. But that’s simply untrue far too much of the time.
So, what’s the issue, what needs to be done, and why is your donation so critically necessary?
1. What Are We Breathing?: These “particulates” (“fine silica particles”) are dozens of times smaller than a human hair. They can cause respiratory problems, heart and lung problems, even premature death ... with children and seniors most at risk. Numerous times, officials have had to warn residents to stay indoors with air filtration on, or even suggested that they leave the area. The huge dust plume is visible from miles away.
2. How Often Are We Affected?: The local Air Pollution Control District agency (APCD) reports that our area exceeds California standards between 70 and 95 days every year ... that’s up to three months of documented, unacceptable air.
3. Where Is It Coming From And Why?: The ACPD’s multiple studies have determined that the particulates come from the Oceano Dunes Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) park. That’s where heavy, uncontrolled, recreational OHV riding has destroyed the vegetation and destabilized the sand’s crust. In effect, the harder, top layer is razed, freeing the particles beneath to be picked up by ocean winds.
This destructive dynamic is documented by the ACPD’s 2010 “Phase 2” study -- “The most significant impact of OHV activity in contributing to high downwind PM levels on the Nipomo Mesa, results from denuding of vegetation and prevention of natural crust formation on the sand surface."
And as this graph shows -- on very windy days, the particulates in the air in these “broken” areas are 10 times higher than nearby vegetated, undisturbed areas.
4. What Are The Solutions?: Recommended remedies include:
• Restoring the areas that have been denuded.
• Expanding the few vegetated islands that remain in the northern riding area, known as the La Grande Tract. (Studies have shown the majority of particulate matter is coming from that tract.) Closing the park itself is not necessary to solve the problem.
5. What’s Preventing Implementation Of Solutions?: For years, local residents have complained to local and state officials about the air quality downwind of the Oceano Dunes Off Highway Vehicle Park. But for five years, the ACPD has been unsuccessful in getting meaningful, permanent, mitigation implemented by the property managers -- i.e., the OHV Division of California State Parks. To date, only temporary measures have been tried with little success.
6. How Have Residents Responded?: In 2014, the grassroots group Mesa Community Alliance, funded by citizens’ donations, filed a lawsuit based on the following regulation. The State Nuisance law aptly describes our situation ...
"If you operate a business which emits enough dust, smoke or odor into the air to cause people in your neighborhood to complain, you will be subject to the Health and Safety Code, the ‘State Nuisance Law.’
“(This law) prohibits the discharge, from any source, air contaminates or other material which cause injury, detriment, nuisance or annoyance to any considerable number of persons or to the public.”
7. You Can Help -- Invest In Our Cause: The activities required to push this problem to a resolution are going well beyond the capabilities of a few residents ... those who have taken money out of their pockets for the “cause.” Now, the Mesa Community Alliance needs your donations to continue the fight. We need your contributions, in any amount, to hire experts, conduct depositions, and continue with the legal process.
We’re not seeking to jump-start a business nor to personally profit from your funding. Every dime will go to help defray legal costs. And we’re not seeking to prevent the use of off-highway vehicles ... just to have them use the dunes in a sane, non-destructive manner.
What we are seeking is to protect our families and entire communities from what is unnecessary exposure to high levels of PM 10 and 2.5 which is detrimental to our health. On behalf of the thousands of men, women and children in southern San Luis Obispo County -- please donate to this extremely worthwhile endeavor.
1. “10” and “2.5” in the “PM” refers to the size of the particle.
2. Based on measurements of PM10.
Organizer
Arlene Judith Versaw
Organizer
Arroyo Grande, CA