July 2011 Santa Barbara Channelkeeper Newsletter

8/3/2019 July 2011 Santa Barbara Channelkeeper Newsletter

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July 2011

Santa Barbara Channelkeeper New s & Events

New s & Events

Volunteer for Channelkeeper'sMPA Watch Program

Remediation of Toxic SoilsGetting Underway in Carpinteria

Take Action! Tell SB City Councilto Ban the Bag!

Stream Team July 9th & 10th

California Coastkeeper AllianceReleases 2010 Annual Report

Get WinWin Living Deals & Support SBCK

Become a Member

Did You Know?

Five new Marine Protected Areasoffshore of Santa Barbara - at Pt.

Conception, Naples Reef,Kashtayit (Gaviota), CampusPoint and Goleta Slough - will

protect an additional 37.8 squaremiles of ocean and coast whenthey enter into effect this fall.

Help Mon itor Ocean Protection - Volunteer forChannelkeeper's M PA W a t c h Program

Last month Channelkeeper launched MPAWatch - a monitoring effort that usesvolunteers to record and track humanactivities in and around Santa Barbara'snewly designated Marine Protected Areas(MPAs). The data collected by MPA Watch volunteers will be critical in detectingtrends in human uses in our MPAs andhow these uses correspond to biologicalchanges resulting from the protectedstatus of the MPAs. The program will alsoaid compliance and enforcement effortsto ensure that MPA regulations arefollowed. While these new MPAs will notenter into effect until this fall, collectingdata on human uses now will provide a valuable baseline from which to assesshow activities in these areas change after MPA implementation.

Becoming an MPA Watch volunteer is easy and fun. It involves walkingdesignated sections of our coast and recording any human activities observed ondata sheets we provide. Monitoring walks are designed to take less than 1.5hours, and volunteers can choose the days and times most convenient for theirschedules. 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 aboutthe 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 theChannelkeeper office at 714 Bond Avenue in Santa Barbara. If you areinterested in attending either of these workshops or want to learn more aboutMPA Watch , please email us or call 805.563.3377 ext. 2.

Photo courtesy of Heal the Bay

Remediation of Toxic Soils at Venoco'sCarpinteria Oil & Gas Facility Getting Underw ay

After nearly a decade of negotiation between the

Regional Water Quality Control Board, Venoco andChevron, and dogged monitoring and advocacy bySanta Barbara Channelkeeper, the clean-up of contaminated soils at Venoco's Carpinteria Oil andGas Facility is finally beginning. Starting on July11th, Chevron (the former owner of the property)will be removing and disposing of approximately13,000 cubic yards of soils contaminated by DDTand other chlorinated pesticides (from historicagricultural use of the property) and by heavymetals such as lead, arsenic and zinc (fromsandblasting activities associated with oil production

at the site). The toxic soil is being removed under order by the Regional WaterBoard and will be conducted pursuant to a Technical Work Plan approved by theBoard and mitigation measures and conditions of approval adopted by the City



of Carpinteria's Planning Commission. The remediation work will continuethrough November 1st, and an onsite environmental monitor will be present toensure compliance with all mitigation measures and conditions.

Channelkeeper bird-dogged the development of this clean-up plan for more thanfour years, and our advocacy succeeded in securing significant improvements tothe remediation plan originally proposed by Venoco and Chevron. Thanks to ourmonitoring of the site, our keen scrutiny of the plan development process andour staunch advocacy, the final clean-up plan that was adopted by the RegionalWater 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 helpedCarpinteria get the clean-up they deserve and are gratified that it is finallygetting underway!

Take Actio n! Contact City Council and Tell Themto Ban the Bag!

At its July 12th meeting, the Santa Barbara CityCouncil will consider the recommendation from itsOrdinance Committee that the City take no actionto reduce the use of disposable shopping bags inour community. The Committee voted 2-1 in Aprilto do nothing beyond continuing the "Where's Your

Bag?" public education campaign, despite therecommendation from its own staff and publictestimony that passing an ordinance to ban plasticshopping bags and place a small fee on paper bagsis the best way to reduce the significantenvironmental impacts of single-use bags.

Cities and counties throughout California, the nation and the world are banningdisposable shopping bags, but Santa Barbara is poised to pass the buck on thisissue unless they hear from their constituents to do otherwise. Please contacteach of your City Council members or attend the July 12th Council meeting andtell them to pass an ordinance to address this serious environmental problem.

EPA R eleases Third Report on Halaco SamplingResults

On June 9th, US EPA released the thirdin a series of reports describing theresults of the soil, sediment, and watertesting completed in 2009-2010 as partof the remedial investigation for theHalaco Superfund Site in Oxnard. Thethird report describes testing of sediments in the Oxnard Industrial Drain(OID) and Ormond Beach lagoonadjacent to the former Halaco facility.The testing showed relatively highconcentrations of metals as well as

dioxins and furans in sediments in the OID where it passes through the Halacoproperties. High concentrations were also found in portions of the lagoon. Thecontaminated sediments may pose a risk to wildlife that ingest contaminatedsediment and prey, but do not pose a significant health risk to occasional usersof these areas. Later this month, EPA plans to undertake additional testing tocomplete its evaluation of these areas. After the testing is complete, EPA willdevelop a clean-up proposal, and then seek and consider public comments on itsproposal. Please click here to read the report and learn more about EPA'sactions related to the Halaco Superfund Site clean-up.

Channelkeeper has hired Geosyntec to help us review, analyze and translateinto layperson's terms these and other technical reports generated by EPA aspart of the Superfund process. Channelkeeper will leverage Geosyntec'stechnical 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 R eleases 2010Annual Report

Channelkeeper is a member of the CaliforniaCoastkeeper Alliance (CCKA), a coalition of 12California Waterkeepers working to strengthenpolicies that protect water quality at the state level.Check out CCKA's 2010 Annual Report to learn moreabout 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-basedwater quality monitoring program. Every month,volunteers join Channelkeeper staff to test for

common water quality parameters at numeroussites in the Ventura River and Goleta Sloughwatersheds. Come join us to help protect our localwaterways!

Ventura Stream Team - July 9th : This monthVentura Stream Team volunteers will collectsamples in two shifts. The first shift will meetbefore dawn at 4:20 am. The second shift willmeet at 12:30 pm. Diurnal (or twice daily)monitoring is being conducted to measure thechemical impacts of algae growth in the VenturaRiver. Volunteers must RSVP to [email protected] as

morning and afternoon slots are limited. Volunteers for morning shifts musthave received prior Stream Team training.

Goleta Stream Team - July 10th : We will meet as usual at 10 am.

WinW in Living Deals - A New and Fun Way toSupport Channelkeeper

WinWin Living, an online Santa Barbaralifestyle guide and daily deal website, offersexceptional deals in Santa Barbara and willdonate 10% of its deal proceeds toChannelkeeper every time you purchase adeal on their website and select "SBChannelkeeper" as your chosen beneficiary.Sign up with WinWin Living today and get

50-90% off the best restaurants, products, entertainment, and services in SantaBarbara! When you sign up and select us, WinWin Living will also donate $1 toChannelkeeper. Join now to receive great deals in Santa Barbara and supportChannelkeeper at the same time - a true win-win.

Beach a t Sco rp ion Ranch

The "Channelkeeper Collection" FeaturedPainting of the Month



July's featured painting of the monthis Beach at Scorpion Ranch from theChannelkeeper Collection: "A ShoreThing....Recent Paintings of the Santa BarbaraCoast" by Paul Arsenault .Beach at Scorpion Ranch was painted on SantaCruz Island and is a 24" x 20" oil on linenpainting available for $2,200. Paul Arsenault willdonate 20% of proceeds to Channelkeeper foreach painting sold from this beautiful collection

of 22 colorful paintings of Santa Barbrabeaches, vistas, parks and community scenes.Please contact us at 805.563.3377 ext. 4 [email protected] to arrange a viewing of Beachat Scorpion Ranch or any of the other uniquepaintings in the Channelkeeper Collection.Stayed tuned for next month's featured paintingof the month!

Beach at Scorpion Ranch

Become a ChannelkeeperMember!

Your support for Channelkeeper's efforts is needed

now more than ever. Become a member of theChannelkeeper crew today with your tax-deductibledonation. You'll be investing in clean water andhealthy communities along the Santa BarbaraChannel today and for future generations. With yourmembership, you will receive our regularnewsletters, news updates and action alerts,invitations to special Channelkeeper events and funvolunteer opportunities, and a free Channelkeepersticker. All new donors contributing $50 or more can also receive aChannelkeeper t-shirt, and for donations of $250 or more, quarterly issues of Waterkeeper magazine. Sign up today by calling 805.563.3377 ext. 4 oremailing us.

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July 2011 Santa Barbara Channelkeeper Newsletter