Since fires erupted across Los Angeles County in January, Ashley Oelsen has spent several hours each day collecting ash and soot from the beach outside of her Santa Monica apartment. Oelsen, a conservation biologist who sits on Santa Monica’s Commission on Sustainability, Environmental Justice and the Environment, worries about the dark-colored, pungent piles of burned debris that continue to mix with the sand, plant life and ocean water.
“I’m concerned about the way it will affect us long term,” she said. “It’s endless amounts of worry about the impact of the contaminants.”
Oelsen said she has spent about $8,000 of her own money shipping her beach samples to laboratories to test for toxic materials.
