Neighbors Ask Navy to Belay Sea of Dust From Weapons Base

As the wind began to kick up one afternoon this summer, the dust wafted across Bolsa Chica Road and into nearby back yards, coating lawn furniture and landing on pools.

The wind stiffened, and within minutes the swirling dust cloud blanketed roof, patios, cars and, in some cases, indoor carpeting, furniture and drapes with a thick layer of fine dirt. For drivers, visibility was reduced to less than 50 feet.

It was the beginning of a five-hour episode July 26 that residents in a district of homes east of the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station call the Bolsa Chica Dust Bowl of 1990.

It was the worst example of dust emanating from barren land on the naval station site, a problem that has grown in recent years.

The dust was the result of unusual weather conditions, particularly dry, powerful winds that also whipped up sprawling fires in Santa Barbara and elsewhere around the Southland.

But residents of Westminster and Huntington Beach tracts south of Westminster Boulevard along the eastern side of Bolsa Chica Road say the storm illustrates the severity of the area’s chronic dust problem.

Almost daily, the winds blow, and so comes the drifting dirt. Residents say the dust routinely blows through windows, doors and chimneys, sullying drapes, carpets and furniture. Some have attributed sinus and bronchial problems to the dust clouds.

Many residents of the area of comfortable, two-story homes say they keep their doors and windows closed, even during heat waves. And some say they have abandoned their back yards entirely.

“We don’t even use our back yard any more, Westminster resident Joyce Taylor said. “You can’t; it’s so filthy. We don’t barbecue any more. . . . We had our grandchildren here last week, and we didn’t even let them go out and play out back.”

Even before the July dust storm, the naval station was cited by the South Coast Air Quality Management District. The dusty conditions “can cause severe health problems,” district spokeswoman Claudia Keith said.

More than 250 residents signed a petition requesting a remedy, which was presented to naval officials.

About one-fifth of the 5,000-acre naval station is barren land. Navy officials acknowledge that the problem has escalated during the last four years, for several reasons:

* The statewide drought has dried up areas of Anaheim Bay National Wildlife Refuge, which is part of the base.

* A row of adult oleander bushes and other plants, which for years had buffered the neighbors from the wind-swept silt, were removed during 1985 and 1986 projects to widen a county flood-control channel running along the site’s eastern border. Until last month, none of those plants had been replaced.

* Some soil excavated for the expansion of the pier at the Port of Long Beach was dumped at the Seal Beach station on a strip 100 yards by 1 mile.

To discuss solutions, officials from the naval station, Westminster and the County Environmental Management Agency have been holding monthly meetings with residents. The latest meeting is scheduled today.

Since the meetings began in August, some short-term steps have been taken to curb the dirt. Three dirt roads have been treated with polymers. Each treatment, which last about three months, costs $25,000 to $30,000, Thomas said. The Navy also spent about $8,000 to pave some particularly offensive spots.

Also, more than 800 oleander saplings, which Westminster bought for $1,000, were recently planted.

Long-term solutions have been more difficult to find, officials say.

The best, least costly permanent solution, Thomas said, would be vegetation. The Navy is awaiting results from soil studies to determine what kinds of plants, requiring little or no watering, can grow there.

“We have to deal with it, but we can’t make plants grow overnight,” he said.