No Hearing Board Action Taken on Stipulated Order of Abatement Changes
At
its
October
17,
2021
meeting
the
APCD
Hearing
Board
passed
a
resolution
ordering
the
Air
Pollution
Control
Officer
(APCO),
Gary
Willey,
to
prepare
the
road
map
to
meeting
the
SOA
dust
emissions
reduction
requirements.
The
Hearing
Board
advised
that
it
would
review
this
road
map
at
a
scheduled
March
23,
2022
Hearing
Board
meeting.
At
the
same
time
the
Hearing
Board
would
also
consider
ordering
changes
in
the
2022
dust
control
work
plan
and/or
changes
to
the
Stipulated
Order
of
Abatement.
For
reasons
not
made
public,
the
planned
March
meeting
was
delayed
until
June
17.
At
that
meeting,
representatives
of
State
Parks,
the
Scientific
Advisory
Group
(SAG),
and
the
Air
Pollution
Control
District
presented
a
joint
report.
This
report
included
the
status
of
dust
control
efforts,
the
results
the
most
recent
of
emissions
reduction
measurements
and
modeling,
and
a
recommended
revision
to
the
SOA
emissions
reduction
goal.
The
joint
report
and
exhibits
can
be
viewed
on
the
Hearing Board web page (
click here
).
The
SAG
has
recommended
changing
the
PM10
mass
emission
reduction
goal
from
50%
to
40.7%.
This
is
based
on
current
dust
emissions
modeling
of
the
reduction
needed
to
achieve
the
level
of
SVRA
PM10
dust
emissions
that
existed
in
1935.
This
was
before
off-highway
vehicle
activity
had
destroyed
much
of
the
natural
vegetation
on
the
dunes.
Karl
Tupper
of
the
APCD
stated
that
the
original
50%
goal
was
based
on
a
preliminary
analysis
of
emissions
from
the
Oso
Flaco
dune
area,
where
off-highway
vehicle
riding
has
been
prohibited
and
vegetation
has
returned
to
pre-disturbance
levels.
Modeling
of
the
off-
road
riding
area
indicates
that,
if
pre-disturbance
vegetation
were
restored,
emissions
would
be
reduced
by
40.1%.
Raleigh
Martin,
the
SAG
representative,
stated
that
achieving
zero
exceedances
of
the
PM10
concentration
standard
would
require
reducing
mass
emissions
below
the
level
that
existed
before riding on Oceano Dunes began.
The
Concerned
Citizens
for
Clean
Air
opposed
any
changes
to
the
SOA.
Written
comments
submitted
by
the
public
overwhelmingly
supported
this
position.
As
it
happened,
the
APCO
elected
to
not
petition
the
Hearing
Board
for
a
change
to
the
SOA,
so
no
action
was
taken
by
the
Hearing
Board
at
this
meeting.
Gary
Willey
stated
he
may
ask
for
a
change
to
the
SOA
at
the
next
Hearing
Board
meeting.
The Hearing Board scheduled a meeting tentatively for October 14, 2022.
A
Hearing
Board
meeting
for
this
time
was
already
planned
to
review
the
2022
Annual
Report
and
Work
Plan.
This
report
should
include
the
dust
control
work
plan
proposed
for
the
final
year
of
the
SOA
in
its
current form.
Court Denies Permanent Restraining Order in Favor of Public Health
On
February
17,
2022,
the
San
Luis
Obispo
County
Superior
Court
issued
a
Temporary
Restraining
Order
prohibiting
the
California
Coastal
Commission
and
State
Parks
from
installing
an
additional
130.8
acres
of
dust
control
measures
planned
for
this
Spring.
This
action
is
related
to
lawsuits
filed
by
several
off-
highway
vehicle
advocacy
groups
challenging
the
legality
of
approvals
of
the
dust
control
work.
On
April
6
Judge
Coates
issued
a
tentative
ruling,
which
she
subsequently
affirmed.
She
declined
to
make
the
injunction
permanent
on
the
basis
that
the
greater
harm
would
be
to
State
Parks’
ability
to
carry
out
its
responsibilities
under
the
Stipulated
Order
of
Abatement
to
protect
public
health.
(
To
see
the
Judge’s ruling, click here.
)
The
dust
control
measures
affected
by
this
order
were
included
in
State
Parks’
2021/2022
Annual
Report
and
Work
Plan
(ARWP),
which
is
a
requirement
of
the
Air
Pollution
Control
District
issued
Stipulated
Order
of
Abatement
(SOA).
The
ARWP
was
approved
by
the
SLO
County
Air
Pollution
Control
Officer
in
November,
2021.
The
Coastal
Commission
subsequently
approved
the
dust
control
work
described
in
this
plan,
including
installation
of
130.8
acres
of
new
dust
control
measures.
The
lawsuits
claim
these
approvals exceed the authority of the approving agencies.
Mesa Air Facts!
NEWS PAGE 1
