Report: OHVs are major pollutant By
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, Staff Writer
IMPERIAL VALLEY PRESS FILE PHOTO
At the North Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area, sand rails kick up
dust and sand at the beginning of drag races in this file photo.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008 10:57 PM PDT
Off-road
vehicles are a major cause of California’s air pollution, according to
a report released last week by the Center for Biological Diversity.
The
Center for Biological Diversity claims off-road vehicle use in this
state releases as much greenhouse gas as burning 500,000 barrels of oil
each year.
“Off-road vehicles contribute more with more
pollution,” Chris Kassar of the center said. “As time goes on, the
emissions from off-road vehicles will continue to increase.”
And Kassar said that has an adverse effect on Imperial County.
“Off-roading
is definitely popular there and it has a concentrated usage down there
(in Imperial County),” she said. “And it just happens to overlap with
an area where air quality is pretty poor.”
Though Kassar,
nor the report, said specifically what the effects are of off-highway
vehicle usage, the study does state “off-road vehicles are a leading
contributor to the region’s poor air quality.”
Brad
Poirez, Imperial County Air Pollution Control District officer, said he
has not reviewed the report issued by the center but will in coming
days.
He said the APCD does not monitor air quality in the dunes
area as that is the responsibility of the Bureau of Land Management and
the U.S. Border Patrol.
“Because we don’t have monitors out there, we can’t correlate OHV use to our exceedance of our monitors,” he said.
Imperial
County Supervisor Wally Leimgruber, a proponent of off-highway vehicle
usage, and Cathy Kennerson, chief financial officer for United Desert
Gateway, an organization that promotes OHV usage in conjunction with
the BLM, agreed the report issued was that of a singular agency with an
agenda against OHV recreation.
IMPERIAL VALLEY PRESS FILE PHOTO
A crowd of people encompass the area of the races.
“When you have an opponent that’s doing the research you need to
consider the source,” Kennerson said. “Studies can be done and
parameters can be put into it.
“And that organization has wanted to close the (Imperial County) Sand Dunes down for a long time,” she said.
Kennerson
said it is estimated Imperial County receives as much as $300 million
yearly during dunes season, which typically runs from late September
through March, from those using OHV areas.
Leimgruber said the
report is part of an effort by the Center for Biological Diversity to
“cripple OHV use in the desert Southwest” that will be fought by local
agencies.
Kassar said part of the center’s goal is not to cut out OHV use, but the goal is merely to cut down off-road vehicle emissions.
However, Leimgruber said the center has continually tried to narrow OHV areas in Imperial County.
“For
some reason there’s a group of people that want to stop this economic
development locally here in Imperial County,” Leimgruber said. “And
they’ve come out with studies in the past trying to close down more
desert area.”
Leimgruber said one key to the OHV area’s
air-quality issues lie with its geographical location, as it is a
corridor for adverse weather and high winds.
Still, he said he will wait until a meeting between Poirez and a technical review team to further address the center’s report.
“My goal as a supervisor is to make Imperial County an OHV-friendly area,” he said.
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