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!
HTO Celebrates Coastal Cleanup Day with a Coastal Sweep!
September 21, 2019 -- Get Out and Do Something Good for the Ocean, it's Coastal Cleanup Day!
HTO Styrofoam Program Takes off!
Marcie’s Mermaids Swim for Heal the Ocean on Thursday Night, So Donate today!
HTO Hosts Celebration of Friends in Summerland!
The HTO 2019 Benefit is Here! Tickets Available Now!
Reflecting on the Conception, and Friends Lost at Sea
Heal the Ocean would like to remind the community that Styrofoam CANNOT go in the blue recycling collection bins at your home or business. To recycle Styrofoam, you MUST physically drop it off at an approved MarBorg drop-off location (20 David Love Place in Goleta or 132 Nopalitos Way in Downtown SB).
PLEASE DO NOT PUT STYROFOAM IN YOUR BLUE RECYCLING COLLECTION BIN, IT WILL NEGATIVELY IMPACT ALL RECYCLING.
Heal the Ocean is proud to announce the following program developed with MarBorg Industries - a powerful attack on an exceptionally destructive source of ocean pollution! You no longer have to throw Styrofoam material into the waste stream, you can recycle it. You'll also be slowing down the waste stream going into Tajiguas landfill.
PLEASE READ THIS ANNOUNCEMENT TO LEARN ABOUT MARBORG’S DROP-OFF LOCATIONS FOR FREE STYROFOAM RECYCLING. . .
Three-Year HTO/RWQCB Project Examines Septic System Pollution in Santa Ynez Valley
Los Olivos deadline for Fixing Problem is extended to April 2020
Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems (typically referred to as septic systems or OWTS) located in the Santa Ynez River Valley, Santa Barbara County, have been linked to elevated nitrate levels in drinking water wells.
The highest risk to groundwater was found to be in Janin Acres, located adjacent to the Santa Ynez River with a relatively high density of OWTS and shallow groundwater. . .
Happy 4th of July to All!
Freedom to Swim Without Worry
Early Morning 7/3 Operation on Summerland Beach Well
#PlasticFreeJuly - Be Plastic Free!
Santa Barbara is on its Way to Being Styrofoam Free
Be Plastic Bottle Free with the BYOBottle Campaign!
HTO Waves a Special Flag for Marcie Kjoller at the Santa Barbara Triathlon
Jalama to be Free of Doggy Waste!
Save the Date - HTO's Annual Benefit 2019!
Advisory Board member/underwater filmmaker Harry Rabin (center) has been hired by InterAct, the project management and engineering firm working with SLC on the Summerland oil problem – for drone photography work with the InterAct team (Mike Giuliani (Left) and Eric Kroh (right) to identify the next well or wells to be capped in the Summerland leaking oil mess. . .
After nearly two years of establishing a working relationship with Union Pacific Railroad, Heal the Ocean organized, with the Railroad, the cleanup on Friday, April 26, 2019, of an abandoned homeless encampment on the seaside cliffs in Summerland.
Our intrepid Advisory Board member/ former Santa Barbara County Fire Chief Eric Peterson, who maintains communication with fire officials about any hazards posed by homeless encampments, happened upon the Friday clean-up scene just as the work train-truck arrived with massive equipment. . .
Heal the Ocean Executive Director Hillary Hauser was featured onSolutions News Radio on Friday, March 29, 2019, in a lively discussion withWorld Business Academy (WBA) Founder/Director Rinaldo Brutoco and Kristina Jansen, Chief of Staff/Producer of Solution News Radio.
On the Friday session, Hillary and Rinaldo discussed the positive and negative consequences of converting decommissioned oil platform foundations as "rigs to reefs" in the ocean off the Santa Barbara coast.
Click here to listen to the interview now. . .
Heal the Ocean spent much time working with environmental health directors from around the state in Sacramento meetings to craft language for AB 885 septic regulations, written into law by then-assemblymember (now state Senator) Hannah-Beth Jackson in the year 2000. It was difficultbusiness, because Malibu is different from Mojave, and San Diego is not the Russian River, and so on. But with the consulting help of former Santa Barbara County Environmental Health Director Rick Merrifield (who is now on HTO’s Advisory Board), we and Heal the Bay, Santa Monica were able to make input into language that was acceptable to all, and the regulations went into effect in June 2012. . .
On April 16, 2019, the Santa Barbara City Council will act on the city Water Commission's recommendation that the El Estero Wastewater Treatment Plant be renamed El Estero Water Resource Center. As a result of HTO’s recommendation during the Water Commission’s February 15, 2018 meeting, the name change was approved by the Commission on March 28,2019 and will next be taken up by City Council. The name change reflects the expanded role of wastewater management, in that the facilities have a much larger role. . .
Heal the Ocean welcomes Wendy Pelayo to our team as Operations Intern! In two short weeks, this wonder-woman has produced an immense amount of work that has helped us move forward on many fronts. Wendy, a third-year undergraduate student in Environmental Studies at UCSB, is responsible for assisting with research projects, administrative duties, and supports HTO social media work. We're glad to have her with us!
In mid-March, 2019, State Lands Commission petroleum drilling engineer Steve Curran called HTO to report that funds from state senator Hannah-Beth Jackson’s SB 44 legislation were being used to clear the rusty hazards from Haskell’s Beach, which fronts the oceanfront Bacara Resort. HTO Advisory Board member (and hard worker!) Harry Rabin documented the work with aerial drone and still photography.
Heal the Ocean is so very happy to announce that the notorious Treadwell oil well which is actively spewing oil into the ocean off Summerland Beach, will be capped this summer. We thank State Lands Commission (SLC) petroleum drilling engineer Steve Curran for working closely with us to get this project rolling, and for putting us together with Mike Giuliani andErik Kroh of InterAct Engineering, Ventura, which has been contracted by State Lands to get the capping project underway. HTO also thanks Nora McNeely-Hurley, who keeps a watch on the water from her Summerland seaside home, letting us know when new oil messes appear on the surface, and lately, there has been a LOT from Treadwell.
EF International Language School, Santa Barbara, has joined hands with HTO for the fourth year in a row to celebrate Earth Day in a massive coastal cleanup scheduled for April 12, 2019.
The EF/HTO model has been picked up by EF San Diego and EF Honolulu, and on that same day in April, hundreds of students will be hitting the beaches in these locations too!
EF Santa Barbara School Director Kristen Reilly says it is the school’s vision to further introduce the beach cleanup model to other EF schools on the U.S. west coast, including campuses in San Francisco and Seattle. The project is part of the school's Ocean & Environmental Awareness campaign entitled “EVERY DAY IS EARTH DAY.”
HTO Moves into Moscow
Treadwell to be Capped off Summerland Beach
SB 44 Funds Clear Haskell's Beach Hazards
HTO Welcomes New Operations Intern Wendy Pelayo
City Takes up HTO Suggestion, Renames El Estero WWTP
AB 885 Septic Regulations get First Action in SB County
#trashtag Cleaning Challenge Goes Viral
That Awful, Stupid Styrofoam!
EF International Beach Cleanup Spreads from SB to San Diego and Honolulu
Visit HTO at the Earth Day Festival, April 27-28
Save the Date for HTO's 2019 Event
Have a Listen: Hillary on Solutions News Radio
