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April 2011

Santa Barbara Channelkeeper News & Events

News & Events

Local Cities Act to ReduceDisposable Bag Use

Sewage Case UpdateEPA Releases Second Report on

Halaco Sampling Results2011 Blue Water Ball Our Most

Successful Ever!Stream Team April 2nd & 3rd

Eastside Community Clean-up -April 9th

Celebrate Earth Day 2011 - April16th & 17th

Save the Date - May 12th - PaulArsenault Art Show

Become a Member

Did You Know .

Volunteers have removedover 55 tons of homeless

encampment trash from theVentura River in the past

three years?

Source: City of Ventu ra

Local Cities Act to Reduce Disposable Bag Use

Santa Barbara City Council to Consider Disposable Bag OrdinanceThe City of Santa Barbara is one step closer to taking action aimed at reducingthe use of disposable shopping bags in Santa Barbara. At its February 1stmeeting, the Santa Barbara City Council voted unanimously to direct theirOrdinance Committee to draft an ordinance to address this seriousenvironmental problem. The committee will have its first of several meetings inmid-April to discuss and develop an ordinance, which will then go to City Councilfor approval. It's important that the Council members know their constituentssupport an ordinance with teeth, such as those passed by Santa Monica and Los

Angeles County which ban plastic bags and place a fee on paper bags. If youare a registered voter in the City of Santa Barbara, please contact your CityCouncil members by email or phone to let them know you support a meaningfulreduction in the use of disposable shopping bags in our community. We're goingto need a lot of public support to convince City Council to pass a strongordinance, so stay tuned for opportunities to get involved. Meanwhile,remember to use reusable bags every time you shop!

Carpinteria Albertsons Goes Bagless!Albertsons recently launched a "GoingBagless" pilot project at its Carpinteria store.Starting on April 27th, the store will nolonger offer plastic and paper bags at itscheck-out stands. Instead, customers will beencouraged to use reusable bags. TheCarpinteria Albertsons is one of only two

stores in the state participating in this pilotproject, which will save more than onemillion bags per year in Carpinteria alone!Channelkeeper commends Albertsons fortheir leadership on this important issue andhopes that other stores and municipalities

will follow their example.

Sewage Case Update

As previously reported, Channelkeeperrecently sent the City of Santa Barbara aNotice of Violations and Intent to Sue underthe federal Clean Water Act to compel the

city to address the serious problems with itssewage system which cause frequent spillsof sewage into our creeks, beaches, stormdrains and streets. Channelkeeper's goalwith this legal action is to protect publichealth, the environment, our local economy,and the quality of life in Santa Barbara.

Channelkeeper has been monitoring thisongoing problem closely for nearly a decade, watching with alarm as thenumber of spills continued to climb. We've made concerted efforts throughoutthis time to voice our concerns with the city and to lobby them to deal with it.While the city has applied a couple of band-aids, they have not made thenecessary commitment and investments in the comprehensive overhaul that's

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sorely needed to fix this serious problem.

Channelkeeper aims to resolve this matter quickly rather than having a long,drawn-out legal battle. We've told the city it is our goal to have our experts sitdown with theirs to reach an engineering-based solution that gets the city'ssewage system up to standards and its sewage spill rate down to near zero asquickly as possible. We are meeting with city officials in the near future todiscuss the way forward and to see if we can settle this matter quickly and inthe best interest of all Santa Barbarans.

EPA Releases Second Report on Halaco

Sampling Results

On March 18th, EPA released thesecond in a series of reportssummarizing the results of soil,sediment, and water testingconducted in 2009-2010 as part ofthe remedial investigation for theHalaco Superfund Site in Oxnard.This second report describes thetesting done on Oxnard City propertysouth and west of the Halaco site.

The sampling results show relativelyhigh concentrations of copper, lead,zinc, and other metals in sedimentsin and near the ditch south of the

Halaco waste pile. Evidence of Halaco waste was not found on the beach southof the Halaco properties. Scattered pieces of Halaco's wastes were alsoobserved in the area accessible by pedestrian bridge to the south of PerkinsRoad. The contaminated soils and sediments may pose a risk to wildlife thatingest contaminated sediment and prey, but do not pose a significant health riskto occasional users of these areas.

EPA plans to undertake additional testing in late spring or early summer tocomplete its evaluation of this property and determine where clean-up may beneeded. Thereafter, EPA will work with the City of Oxnard to develop a clean-upproposal, and will then seek and consider public comments. Similar reports forother sections of the Halaco property will follow as EPA moves forward in theSuperfund clean-up processes for the site. Please click here to read the reportand learn more about EPA's actions related to the Halaco 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 engagethem in EPA's decision-making process related to the clean-up of the site.

2011 Blue Water Ball Our Most Successful Ever!

Channelkeeper's eleventh annual BlueWater Ball fundraising gala was ourmost successful yet, raising nearly$75,000 for our monitoring,education, advocacy and enforcementefforts to protect and restore theSanta Barbara Channel and itswatersheds.

At the event, which took place onMarch 19th at the Santa BarbaraWoman's Club," we honored Lynne

Cox, world-renowned open-water swimmer and author, with Channelkeeper's2011 Ocean Ambassador Award for her commitment to inspiring awareness forhealthy oceans. Lynne gave an inspiring keynote speech about her incredibleswimming feats and efforts to foster intercultural understanding and ocean

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awareness. We also recognized Peter Shao as our Volunteer of the Year for hisdedication and service to Channelkeeper and the environment.

Many thanks to all who attended and contributed to making this our best eventyet. Thanks also to Lynne Cox, our masterful Master of Ceremonies Geoff Green,our dedicated volunteers, and our event sponsors: Allied Waste Services, CitrixOnline, Environment Now, Forester Media, MarBorg Industries, Patagonia, theSanta Ynez Band of Chumash Indians Foundation, and UCSB. We look forwardto seeing you at next year's Blue Water Ball!

Stream Team - April 2nd & 3rd

Note: Special Ventura Stream Team pre-dawn sampling times!

Stream Team is Channelkeeper's volunteer-based waterquality monitoring program. Every month, volunteers

join Channelkeeper staff to test for common water

quality parameters at numerous sites in the VenturaRiver and Goleta Slough watersheds. Come join us tohelp protect our local waterways!

Ventura Stream Team - April 2nd - This monthVentura Stream Team volunteers will collect samples intwo shifts. The first shift will meet before dawn at 4:30AM. The second shift will meet at 12:30 PM. We areconducting diurnal (twice daily) monitoring in order to

measure the chemical impacts of algae growth in theVentura River. Volunteers must RSVP to Ben@sbck.org as morning andafternoon slots are limited. Volunteers for the morning shift must have receivedtraining at a prior event.

Goleta Stream Team - April 3rd - Goleta Stream Team will meet as usual at 10AM. Visit www.stream-team.org for more information.

Eastside Community Clean-up - April 9th

Join Looking Good Santa Barbara, a City of Santa BarbaraEnvironmental Services program, along with numerouscommunity groups for the Eastside Community Clean-upDay on Saturday, April 9th. Clean-up activities include a

creek clean-up and survey with Channelkeeper,neighborhood clean-ups, tree planting, graffiti removaland more. Volunteers will meet at 9:00 am at EastsidePark (Soledad & Yanonali Streets) to take part in thiscommunity event. Contact Lorraine Cruz Carpenter of

Looking Good Santa Barbara for more information.

Celebrate the Earth at the SB Earth Day Festival

- April 16th & 17th

Celebrate the Earth at the annual Santa Barbara Earth DayFestival, a two-day extravaganza on Saturday, April 16thfrom 11 am - 7 pm and Sunday, April 17th from 11 am - 6pm at Alameda Park. The festival's theme this year is

"Powered by the People," recognizing our ability to createmore sustainable lifestyles using the power of the humanbody and mind. Stop by Channelkeeper's booth to learnabout and take action to support our current initiatives.

Channelkeeper is seeking volunteers to help staff our boothat the festival; please contact us at penny@sbck.org or805.563.3377 ext. 5 if you can help. We hope to see youthere!

Save the Date - May 12thPaul A rsenault Art Show to Benefit Channelkeeper

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Please join us on Thursday, May 12th from 5 - 8pm at 122 Santa Barbara St. for "A Shore Thing...Recent Paintings of the Santa Barbara Coast," areception and special exhibition of artist PaulArsenault's incredible work. Proceeds from theevent will benefit Channelkeeper. Wine and horsd'oeuvres will be served at this free and funevent. RSVPs to lindsey@sbck.org areappreciated. We look forward to seeing you there!

Click here to view Paul Arsenault's work.

Become a ChannelkeeperMember!

Your support for Channelkeeper's efforts is needednow 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. Withyour membership, 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 ofWaterkeeper magazine. Sign up today by calling 805.563.3377 or emailing us.

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