San Juan Bautista council members didn’t have to go looking for personal testimonials about the closed-off Clear Creek Management Area and potential impacts from asbestos.
Council members discussed the Clear Creek Management Area during their Tuesday meeting. The Bureau of Land Management has closed it off from the public since 2008 due to studies pointing to naturally occurring asbestos, with concerns about dust from off-road use in certain areas of the public lands in southern San Benito County.
With a recent, permanent decision from the BLM to close off Clear Creek – due to those asbestos concerns – Congressman Sam Farr, D-Carmel, is proposing a bill to reopen parts of the area to riders.
San Benito County Supervisor Margie Barrios was at the council meeting asking San Juan officials to support a letter of no confidence against the BLM in the matter. Before approving the letter – following similar approvals by the Hollister council and county board – San Juan city officials spoke on the issue.
San Juan City Manager Roger Grimsley said he had been riding in Clear Creek since 1956.
“That’s over 55 years,” Grimsley said. “And the people I rode with, there has never been any sign of illness.”
Councilwoman Jolene Cosio asked the most questions on the matter, and for good reason. Her first husband died from the type of lung cancer associated with that type of asbestos. Her family never knew whether it was caused by his career at Pinnacles National Park or time working as a teenager in a shipyard.
“So I am a little sensitive to that type of lung cancer,” she said. “It’s very deadly.”
Cosio, though, joined San Juan council members in unanimously supporting the letter. She said she was behind the effort as long as there are no reported cases of asbestos from Clear Creek causing illness, as contended by Barrios.
Barrios called the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency studies on asbestos, used by the BLM in its decision, “questionable science.”
She referenced there were 30,000-plus visitors, largely off-road users, before the closure.
“This has had a very adverse effect on our economy,” Barrios said.
