That my husband and I moved to one of the most beautiful places along the California coastline and, for so many days adding up to months, we are advised by the Air Pollution Control District (APCD) to stay indoors or suffer adverse health effects related to inhaling the dust known as PM10 and PM2.5. We cannot garden, take walks, sit outdoors, or take our grandchildren to the park. 

That despite the proven ineffectiveness of hay bales and wind fences to prevent the dust from wafting over the Oceano Dunes and onto the Mesa, California State Parks spends millions of taxpayer dollars on an intervention that is nothing more than an expensive charade.

That the monitoring station at Oso Flaco providing air quality data on vegetated dunes versus non-vegetated dunes under the same wind conditions has been removed.

That most people do not understand that what we are breathing in the dust plume is not only “pollution,” but something much more invasive and deadly called crystalline silica. 

That our elected representatives and the agencies charged with protecting our right to clean air have failed us.

And lastly, that one group of people’s desire to recreate is being placed above the health of people in our communities. It is just wrong.

-- Rosemary Nelson - Nipomo