July 2011

Santa Barbara Channelkeeper News & Events

News & Events

Volunteer for Channelkeeper's MPA Watch Program Remediation of Toxic Soils Getting Underway in Carpinteria Take Action! Tell SB City Council to Ban the Bag! Stream Team July 9th & 10th California Coastkeeper Alliance Releases 2010 Annual Report Get WinWin Living Deals & Support SBCK Become a Member

Help Monitor Ocean Protection - Volunteer for Channelkeeper's MPA Watch Program
Last month Channelkeeper launched MPA Watch - a monitoring effort that uses volunteers to record and track human activities in and around Santa Barbara's newly designated Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). The data collected by MPA Watch volunteers will be critical in detecting trends in human uses in our MPAs and how these uses correspond to biological changes resulting from the protected status of the MPAs. The program will also aid compliance and enforcement efforts Photo courtesy of Heal the Bay to ensure that MPA regulations are followed. While these new MPAs will not enter into effect until this fall, collecting data on human uses now will provide a valuable baseline from which to assess how activities in these areas change after MPA implementation. Becoming an MPA Watch volunteer is easy and fun. It involves walking designated sections of our coast and recording any human activities observed on data sheets we provide. Monitoring walks are designed to take less than 1.5 hours, and volunteers can choose the days and times most convenient for their schedules. Volunteers are asked to commit to conducting at least three monitoring walks a month and to follow our designated monitoring protocols. Channelkeeper will be conducting volunteer training workshops on Thursday, July 14th and Tuesday, July 26th for anyone interested in learning more about the MPA Watch program and initiating the training to become an MPA Watch volunteer. Workshops will start at 5:30 pm and will be held at the Channelkeeper office at 714 Bond Avenue in Santa Barbara. If you are interested in attending either of these workshops or want to learn more about MPA Watch, please email us or call 805.563.3377 ext. 2.

Did You Know?

Remediation of Toxic Soils at Venoco's Carpinteria Oil & Gas Facility Getting Underway
After nearly a decade of negotiation between the Regional Water Quality Control Board, Venoco and Chevron, and dogged monitoring and advocacy by Santa Barbara Channelkeeper, the clean-up of contaminated soils at Venoco's Carpinteria Oil and Gas Facility is finally beginning. Starting on July 11th, Chevron (the former owner of the property) will be removing and disposing of approximately 13,000 cubic yards of soils contaminated by DDT and other chlorinated pesticides (from historic agricultural use of the property) and by heavy metals such as lead, arsenic and zinc (from sandblasting activities associated with oil production at the site). The toxic soil is being removed under order by the Regional Water Board and will be conducted pursuant to a Technical Work Plan approved by the Board and mitigation measures and conditions of approval adopted by the City

Five new Marine Protected Areas offshore of Santa Barbara - at Pt. Conception, Naples Reef, Kashtayit (Gaviota), Campus Point and Goleta Slough - will protect an additional 37.8 square miles of ocean and coast when they enter into effect this fall.

of Carpinteria's Planning Commission. The remediation work will continue through November 1st, and an onsite environmental monitor will be present to ensure compliance with all mitigation measures and conditions. Channelkeeper bird-dogged the development of this clean-up plan for more than four years, and our advocacy succeeded in securing significant improvements to the remediation plan originally proposed by Venoco and Chevron. Thanks to our monitoring of the site, our keen scrutiny of the plan development process and our staunch advocacy, the final clean-up plan that was adopted by the Regional Water Board and approved by the City is stronger than that conducted at any DDT-impacted site in the entire nation. We are thrilled to have helped Carpinteria get the clean-up they deserve and are gratified that it is finally getting underway!

Take Action! Contact City Council and Tell Them to Ban the Bag!
At its July 12th meeting, the Santa Barbara City Council will consider the recommendation from its Ordinance Committee that the City take no action to reduce the use of disposable shopping bags in our community. The Committee voted 2-1 in April to do nothing beyond continuing the "Where's Your Bag?" public education campaign, despite the recommendation from its own staff and public testimony that passing an ordinance to ban plastic shopping bags and place a small fee on paper bags is the best way to reduce the significant environmental impacts of single-use bags. Cities and counties throughout California, the nation and the world are banning disposable shopping bags, but Santa Barbara is poised to pass the buck on this issue unless they hear from their constituents to do otherwise. Please contact each of your City Council members or attend the July 12th Council meeting and tell them to pass an ordinance to address this serious environmental problem.

EPA Releases Third Report on Halaco Sampling Results

On June 9th, US EPA released the third in a series of reports describing the results of the soil, sediment, and water testing completed in 2009-2010 as part of the remedial investigation for the Halaco Superfund Site in Oxnard. The third report describes testing of sediments in the Oxnard Industrial Drain (OID) and Ormond Beach lagoon adjacent to the former Halaco facility. The testing showed relatively high concentrations of metals as well as dioxins and furans in sediments in the OID where it passes through the Halaco properties. High concentrations were also found in portions of the lagoon. The contaminated sediments may pose a risk to wildlife that ingest contaminated sediment and prey, but do not pose a significant health risk to occasional users of these areas. Later this month, EPA plans to undertake additional testing to complete its evaluation of these areas. After the testing is complete, EPA will develop a clean-up proposal, and then seek and consider public comments on its proposal. Please click here to read the report and learn more about EPA's actions related to the Halaco Superfund Site clean-up. Channelkeeper has hired Geosyntec to help us review, analyze and translate into layperson's terms these and other technical reports generated by EPA as part of the Superfund process. Channelkeeper will leverage Geosyntec's technical assistance to help local citizens understand EPA's findings and engage

them in EPA's decision-making process related to the clean-up of the site.

California Coastkeeper Alliance Releases 2010 Annual Report

Channelkeeper is a member of the California Coastkeeper Alliance (CCKA), a coalition of 12 California Waterkeepers working to strengthen policies that protect water quality at the state level. Check out CCKA's 2010 Annual Report to learn more about all the great work being done by CCKA and Waterkeepers across California to protect our waterways.

Stream Team - July 9th & 10th

Note: Special Ventura Stream Team pre-dawn sampling times! Stream Team is Channelkeeper's volunteer-based water quality monitoring program. Every month, volunteers join Channelkeeper staff to test for common water quality parameters at numerous sites in the Ventura River and Goleta Slough watersheds. Come join us to help protect our local waterways! Ventura Stream Team - July 9th: This month Ventura Stream Team volunteers will collect samples in two shifts. The first shift will meet before dawn at 4:20 am. The second shift will meet at 12:30 pm. Diurnal (or twice daily) monitoring is being conducted to measure the chemical impacts of algae growth in the Ventura River. Volunteers must RSVP to ben@sbck.org as morning and afternoon slots are limited. Volunteers for morning shifts must have received prior Stream Team training. Goleta Stream Team - July 10th: We will meet as usual at 10 am.

WinWin Living Deals - A New and Fun Way to Support Channelkeeper

WinWin Living, an online Santa Barbara lifestyle guide and daily deal website, offers exceptional deals in Santa Barbara and will donate 10% of its deal proceeds to Channelkeeper every time you purchase a deal on their website and select "SB Channelkeeper" as your chosen beneficiary. Sign up with WinWin Living today and get 50-90% off the best restaurants, products, entertainment, and services in Santa Barbara! When you sign up and select us, WinWin Living will also donate $1 to Channelkeeper. Join now to receive great deals in Santa Barbara and support Channelkeeper at the same time - a true win-win.

Beach at Scorpion Ranch The "Channelkeeper Collection" Featured Painting of the Month

July's featured painting of the month is Beach at Scorpion Ranch from the Channelkeeper Collection: "A Shore Thing....Recent Paintings of the Santa Barbara Coast" by Paul Arsenault. Beach at Scorpion Ranch was painted on Santa Cruz Island and is a 24" x 20" oil on linen painting available for $2,200. Paul Arsenault will donate 20% of proceeds to Channelkeeper for each painting sold from this beautiful collection of 22 colorful paintings of Santa Barbra beaches, vistas, parks and community scenes. Please contact us at 805.563.3377 ext. 4 or lindsey@sbck.org to arrange a viewing of Beach at Scorpion Ranch or any of the other unique paintings in the Channelkeeper Collection. Stayed tuned for next month's featured painting of the month!

Beach at Scorpion Ranch

Become a Channelkeeper Member!

Your support for Channelkeeper's efforts is needed now more than ever. Become a member of the Channelkeeper crew today with your tax-deductible donation. You'll be investing in clean water and healthy communities along the Santa Barbara Channel today and for future generations. With your membership, you will receive our regular newsletters, news updates and action alerts, invitations to special Channelkeeper events and fun volunteer opportunities, and a free Channelkeeper sticker. All new donors contributing $50 or more can also receive a Channelkeeper t-shirt, and for donations of $250 or more, quarterly issues of Waterkeeper magazine. Sign up today by calling 805.563.3377 ext. 4 or emailing us.

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