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When Reality and Regulation Collide...
Watch the Dust Fly
The headline read "Oxnard
man succumbs to valley fever." The article in the Ventura County Star
linked the disease (coccidioidomycosis) to a dust cloud that resulted
from the January 1994, 6.7 magnitude Northridge earthquake. Spores of a fungus
occurring naturally in local soil were carried in a dust cloud over Simi Valley
where it caused a miniature epidemic, according to Ventura County Public Health
Officer, Dr. Gary Feldman. Valley fever accounted for four deaths
out of 52 reported cases in 1993 and at least five deaths since the 1994
earthquake. And while Feldman does not consider it a public health threat, he
states that there might be more people who have the disease who don't know it
because of its flu-like symptoms. 
"Actually, I rather enjoy being the angel of government; good benefits, liberal vacation and sick leave policy and an excellent retirement. It's just that I thought I'd be on top of the cloud where I could see— not stuck here inside."
Clearly, valley fever presents a
concern, if not a threat, whenever soil dust enters the human environment, as it
invariably does with construction projects, unpaved roads and highway shoulders,
vacant lots and fields and agricultural operations. The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) has addressed this problem by establishing dust air
pollution standards based on particles with "aerodynamic diameters less
than 10 micrometers" expressed as "PM10."
A study was commissioned to assess the
PM10 suppression qualities of various "fugitive
dust" control measures in the San Joaquin Valley. Meanwhile, in another corner of the
EPA, a separate group of regulators wrestled with the problem of revegetating
construction sites and disturbed-soil areas and the problem of soil eroded from
these sites by storm water runoff. The same problem was within the purview of
other agencies who addressed it in the context of their own mandated interests.
Whether the various departments within
the EPA communicate on similar problems is unclear. What is clear is that there
are separate agencies addressing common environmental problems without
coordination of resulting regulations. One obvious example involves how fugitive
dust (the small stuff) and fugitive soil (the large stuff) can be made to stay
put. In many, probably most, cases of disturbed land the answer is as simple as
erosion control. But "simple" seems to be impossible when it comes to
government regulation. Matters are complicated by a rash of
regulations. The California State Fish and Game Department and many counties
prescribe that erosion control seeding shall occur between September 15th and
October 15th, regardless of when construction was completed. The bare
ground could face nearly a year of erosive elements that remove soil and dust.
The EPA addresses erosion control
directly on work sites of 5 acres or more through National Pollution Discharge
Elimination System (NPDES) permits administered through its regional offices.
Smaller sites are subject to local regulations based on an EPA model erosion
control ordinance. Dust suppression is administered through the local air
quality management authority. At the moment, regional dust control is targeted
in the south San Joaquin Valley, California's south coast, and in the Reno,
Nevada area, but not in other regions. Local grading ordinances address water
erosion. The same site may be subject to
regulation by the EPA, state fish and game department, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, the county, air quality management district, regional water quality
control board and perhaps a few others, such as the California Coastal
Commission and the Army Corps of Engineers.
Needed Oversight
Imagine an "angel of government"
who rides on top of a cloud and watches over all the regulators in Washington,
Sacramento and the local environment management districts. The angel's job is to
spot duplicate efforts and conflicting regulations being developed then visit
the bureaucrats in their dreams and help them see a better way. But alas, angels, like open cooperation
between government agencies, are little more than dreams under the current
regulatory culture.
A Rational Approach Let's look at a more rational approach.
Take a typical nonurban site where road construction has been finished and
revegetation is necessary. We propose a simpler, cheaper solution.
Immediately following construction, before the soil has crusted over, hydroseed
the site using organic tackifiers and mulch, putting seed in the still-loose
soil and preventing wind erosion. This will allow the seeded area to germinate
with the first rain and take root. Revegetation takes over erosion control.
Even if fifty percent of the seed is
lost, what remains begins the revegetation process sooner. And nothing
guarantees that seed planted in the September-October time frame will all
survive either when hydroseeded onto the cooler, crusted soil surface. What is not simple about this solution
is getting all the regulatory authorities to agree at the highest levels of
bureaucracy that there is a simpler, better way, for that is not how government
agencies survive.
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