Heal the Ocean is asking that you help a massive letter-writing campaign to the State of California to support the designation of state funds to cap the leaking Becker Oil well in Summerland!
After you read this message, please click on the sample letter, fill it out and/or personalize it as you will, and e-mail it back to us so that we can put all the letters together to go to the appropriate office in Sacramento in April.
The Becker well has lately stirred public outrage (see photos sent to us by HTO supporters) - because not only is this oil thick in Summerland, making that beach off limits, but the oil is drifting to nearby beaches. This situation is unacceptable!
During fall 2015 Heal the Ocean met with State Lands Commission (SLC) staff and other stakeholders to work on getting Proposition 1 grant funds to cap this leaking well, but we were not able to dig up the necessary $200K in CEQA funds by the deadline for the grant submission.
SLC went forward with preliminary work on the Becker well (marking, measuring the well and working up a repair plan), but money is still needed for the work. A faster route to remediate the problem has come from Assemblyman Das Williams, who successfully included line items into the State's proposed budget for FY 2016/2017 for the $200K needed for CEQA, as well as an additional $700K for FY 2017/2018 to apply to actual project construction.
2018 seems a long way away, but we are told by Assemblyman Williams representatives that SLC can begin work as soon as the first budget is approved. Significant public advocacy will be needed to keep these funds in place.
Your letters are needed now! Please click on this form, sign it and save it (or write your own letter) and return it to us at info@healtheocean.org - or mail your hard copy to us at Heal the Ocean, 1430 Chapala Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101. We will gather these letters through the end of this month, and in April we will submit them all to Assemblyman Williams' office. A one-time batch-submittal is requested by the assemblyman's office, so that legislators aren't besieged from all directions.
Please edit/write your letter now.
Thank you!