As what was expected to be temporary restrictions at the Clear Creek Management Area in southern San Benito County stretch into a sixth year, the Hollister City Council and San Benito County Board of Supervisors have each recently sent letters of no-confidence to the Department of the Interior expressing displeasure over the agency’s handling of the closure — and, in particular, its response to scientific data about asbestos in the popular off-roading area.
In a report to the city council, City Manager William Avera said that Clear Creek “played a major role” in attracting off-road enthusiasts to the area. “The closure of the CCMA has had an impact on the local economy through the sales of gas and supplies.”
Following the lead of the Board of Supervisors, which sent its own letter of no-confidence earlier this summer, city officials claim that the Bureau of Land Management’s recently-released record of decision that continues to limit access to the Clear Creek appears to have been made “independent of scientific data relating to asbestos.” The record of decision is described by the BLM as “the final decision for … land use planning decisions” in the 63,000-acre area that spans parts of southern San Benito and western Fresno counties.
In its report, the BLM says that there are 31,000 acres of serpentine soils high in asbestos fibers within the Clear Creek Management Area. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2008 released a report that said that “visiting Clear Creek more than one day per year can put adults and children above the EPA’s acceptable risk range for exposure to carcinogens and increased excess lifetime cancer risk from many typical CCMA recreational activities.”
“We followed our resource management plan, evaluated the risks that were identified by the Environmental Protection Agency and we analyzed the risks,” said Rick Cooper, the field manager for the BLM’s Hollister office. “We did an analysis to determine what was an appropriate level of use for the public without incurring a significant risk of cancer.”
Cooper said that the BLM ultimately decided to limit the types and length of use at Clear Creek, mandating that individuals can not use motorized vehicles there more than five days per year and may not be there for other uses, such as hiking or hunting, more than 12 days per year, per person. All visitors must receive a permit from the BLM office, though by the end of August an automated system will allow potential Clear Creek visitors to register online at registration.gov. More than 600 permits had been issued from April through July, according to Cooper.
The county’s letter, which served as the basis for the city’s letter, said BLM decision-makers showed a “disregard of available resources and data, reliance on questionable scientific data, failure to address the legitimate scientific concerns raised, apparent unwillingness to change direction even when warranted, and dismissal of major stakeholders and their fact-based input.” Cooper said that it would be “premature” to address the specifics of the local government letters, since they were addressed to the Department of the Interior. However, he did note that the BLM has agreed to consider new information as it becomes available over the next three years. “There is a systematic process in place where we’d evaluate that information and have the ability to make adjustments in use — either the types of use or the amount of time people can spend” at Clear Creek.
The letter said local city and county government officials “had hoped a six-year timeline would have resulted in a government action that our constituents and visitors to San Benito County could believe in an accept; one which reflected the input of state and local agencies as well as the best science available,” noting that the BLM has had “numerous opportunities” to collaborate with other agencies and scientists to consider alternatives to the restriction of access that continues today. Officials say the BLM merely “feigned only cursory collaboration” and “then promptly ignored the scientific data.”
County and city officials contend in the letter that the BLM is overstating the risk of off-roaders being adversely affected by asbestos from riding in Clear Creek. “The lifetime risk of OHV motorcycle use of the CCMA is less than an individual smoking one cigarette per year,” they state in the letter, pointing out that the EPA study “deliberately assumed that all types of asbestos fibers are equally carcinogenic.”
The letter notes that the record of decision acknowledges these concerns and the controversy related to naturally occurring asbestos exposure, and that it is “unconscionable” to adopt a report “based on a perceived health risk that simply doesn’t exist.” Local officials say that while the report says the BLM will re-examine peer-reviewed data within three years to determine if there’s a need to reconsider the Clear Creek decision, “a desire by the Hollister Field Office to consider current scientific data has been absent.” The letter closes by calling the entire process “a horribly mismanaged effort.”
Cooper maintained that the BLM will use “adaptive management,” meaning that “if there’s new information about riding strategies or something changes entirely about the asbestos information, we would consider that and make adjustments accordingly.
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