Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

While it’s possible for most people to enjoy nature without tearing through it off-road vehicles, some ATV loyalists demand the right to blaze through deserts and forests, even when their own health and safety is seriously compromised. Last year the federal Bureau of Land Management closed off the Clear Creek Management Area in central California to all public use. The 48-square-mile tract of land, known for its canyons, wildflowers, and towering rock formations, has been hailed as one of the best places in the world for ATV enthusiasts to let loose.

There’s only one problem. The park is home to the largest deposit of asbestos in the United States.

Natural deposits of the carcinogenic mineral form an outcrop larger than the city of San Francisco. Then you have ATVs and motorbikes. What might be a reasonably safe place to visit most times of the year has become a bio-hazard thanks in part to the number of vehicles blazing trails and stirring up asbestos dust. The Los Angeles Times called the park “a virtual death zone.”

Tests conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency revealed concentrations in the air of chrysotile asbestos, which is known to cause lung cancer and other life-threatening diseases when inhaled even in the smallest quantities. Asbestos is linked to the deadly cancer mesothelioma, which affects the lining of the chest cavity and lungs or, more rarely, the lining of the abdomen or the heart.

Levels of the airborne asbestos fibers were high enough in the Clear Creek area to warrant the land being closed for all use. Even Bureau of Land Management officials and others are required to wear respirators on dusty days and follow decontamination procedures after their visits.

The BLM had previously closed the park down in 2005 for the driest and dustiest from June to October. Emily Roberson, a scientist familiar with the Clear Creek case, said that the EPA’s data collection and analysis was meticulously performed. “It is a much greater health hazard than previously thought. And the BLM is going to have to be very careful if they open it up.”

A group called the BlueRibbon Coalition, an organization of off-roading recreational enthusiasts (BRC) disagrees. The group hired a law firm to contest the EPA’s Clear Creek tests and the closure of the park, which it plans to challenge legally once sufficient funds have been raised.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 20th, 2009 at 3:34 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.