Letter: All about the money

The Air Pollution Control District meeting Wednesday was an interesting study in obfuscation. Many Nipomo Mesa residents spoke regarding health problems they believe result from particulate matter blowing off the Dunes. A settled fact is that the particulates originate from the off-highway vehicle area at the Dunes, causing federal air quality violations about every 5 days. We’ve had 47 to date this year.

State OHV Division Director Phil Jenkins spoke about how his agency was willing to fund a required technical expert on health impacts, but he doubted that could be done within six months.

Although a pre-eminent authority from UC Davis, Thomas Cahill, could be hired quickly, Jenkins made no assurances that Cahill would be the choice.

Saddest of all were Jenkins’ statements that he wasn’t convinced the particulates were caused in any way by thousands of OHVs churning up sand, destroying vegetation and surface crust of the Dunes. I find it disturbing that a uniformed law enforcement officer would so transparently toss aside public safety responsibilities to protect the OHV community.

The APCD and Board of Supervisors were not necessarily “rolled,” but need to be reminded that State Parks has a vested interest in keeping the Dunes open to the OHV community. It’s all about money.

John Nickols
Cypress Ridge

--

Source: http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2010/08/03/1238388/letters-to-the-editor-84.html

---

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites