In this E-letter:
HTO invited onto stakeholder committee working on the implementation plan for $650M in wastewater infrastructure projects
How to stop receiving junk mail
PLEASE VOTE on Tuesday, November 2!
Support HTO Friday, November 5, at the Wine & Design art event featuring Paul Greene’s ocean photography!
Heal the Ocean is proud to release The Inventory of Municipal Wastewater Discharges to California Coastal Water Bodies, an online interactive studythat documents the 417 billion gallons of treated municipal wastewater discharged at fifty-seven coastal locations in the 2015 calendar year.
The study, led by project manager James Hawkins, MPP, involved a multiyear effort to collect, review, and analyze publicly available data to determine the total volume of treated municipal effluent discharged to California’s coastal water bodies. . .
The long-held tradition of smashing someone's head with an empty eggshell filled with confetti (cascarone) has always been a hoot - and a big part of Santa Barbara's annual Fiesta. The tradition was great fun until the confetti became plastic or metallic/mylar - which does not degrade, but instead goes down the storm drain and into the ocean, where fish eat it. Several years ago Heal the Ocean took up the issue with the City of Santa Barbara Creeks Division, and we were successful in getting the city to contract for the covering of storm drains during Fiesta and Summer Solstice. . .
IT WAS A GREAT DAY IN CITY COUNCIL ON TUESDAY. The Council voted to restrict plastic straws - after a heart-warming plea from beautiful children as well as heartfelt requests from physically challenged members of the community who told the Council they needed straws to have access to food/drink like everyone else…(the plastic straw regulation includes provisions for physically challenged people to have access to straws). HTO told Council that while we really wanted a total ban, we support the “ask-only” regulation because such regulation is said to reduce straw use by 80% or even 90%. . .
On Tuesday, July 17, 2018, the Santa Barbara City Council will vote on two Ordinances (styrofoam and plastic straws) important to all who love the ocean and the creatures that live in the ocean:
To ban the sale or use of Styrofoam in the city, and
To restrict ("ask only") on single use straws and plastic cutlery.
Heal the Ocean asks you to please come to the City Council meeting, which begins at 2 p.m. to urge the Council to ban Styrofoam and restrict straws. . .
City Ordinance Committee Moves to Ban Styrofoam and Possibly Put a Dent in Plastic Straws
State Lands Commission Moving Forward with Next 3 Summerland Wells
Regional Board to get Update on HTO/RWQCB Groundwater Assessment
HTO’s Alison Thompson Received 2018 McGinnes Environmental Law and Advocacy Scholarship
Heal the Ocean’s Trio of Upcoming Events
Dogs of the Month: Boss and Maggie!
Friday, June 8, is World Oceans Day! Designated in 2008 by the United Nations as a day to celebrate, protect, and honor the great big blue ocean we all love (and need to sustain life on earth). We can all get involved - very easily - because this year's theme is plastic pollution. Right now you can do the following. . .
Summerland Beach was a scene of great joy this morning (Monday, February 26, 2018), as the barge from Curtin Maritime, Long Beach, arrived to the coastline and positioned itself to lower the construction equipment to cap the infamous leaking Becker Well. Heal the Ocean was there to confer with State Lands Commission officials, who were watching the operation from Lookout Park, and to discuss future operations to follow on the other offshore/underwater wells. . .
Heal the Ocean just heard from the contractors who are capping the infamous leaking Becker Well on Summerland Beach that the project is going forward! The InterAct barge will arrive off Summerland Beach on Monday, February 26, 2018 - next week - and the operation will begin!
It is estimated that the capping project will take 3 to 4 days to accomplish. Heal the Ocean will be there to cheer on the oil field workers, to celebrate with champagne this very important project to clean the ocean off Summerland, and we thank the State Lands Commission officials for listening to all our pleadings to get this most important work done.
With considerable frustration, Heal the Ocean has had to inform Summerland residents and beach lovers that InterAct Ventura, the contractors who will cap the notorious leaking Becker Well on Summerland Beach, has sent out a notice that the capping of the of the well is delayed from its planned start date this week due to ocean conditions – namely, poor water quality (no doubt a result of the Montecito Mudslide). InterAct is hoping to start the project on February 26, 2017. . .
There have been 57,431 views of Heal the Ocean’s editorial on the Montecito Mudslide, which we published as an E-letter sent to our members, and on our Facebook page. Our commentary was “liked” 710 times, shared 585 times, and commented on 114 times. Most comments were favorable, in that the community has taken comfort in HTO support of the County’s cleanup of this environmental disaster – which includes dumping of mud on Goleta and Carpinteria beaches. . .
Heal the Ocean has received numerous (some irate) phone calls regarding the mud being deposited on Goleta and Carpinteria beaches. Television media has also called for a response from us. We told them, and everyone else, we were investigating and would let everyone know when we knew the answer. We at HTO don’t believe environmental knee-jerk reactions help anything, least of all the environment. . .
HTO Starts the Year With All-New Website & Online Store
Another Good Start For 2018: Becker Well Capping Begins!
HTO Seeks Prop 1 Grant for Santa Ynez Septic-to-Sewer Project
Los Olivos Voting on Forming its own CSD to Handle Wastewater
HTO Welcomes Becky Twohey to Our Staff
2017 Dog Bag Program: A Dog-Gone Success!
HTO Support Reaches Historical High in 2017
For more than a week, we have watched aghast at the devastation of the fires that have destroyed home and property across Southern California. We have heard from friends in San Diego who have lost their homes, and from friends and loved ones who remained hunkered down for over a week, ready to evacuate the Skirball Fire in West Los Angeles/Brentwood area at a moment’s notice. . .
