Earthcomb Founder Combines Trash Pickup with Homeless Outreach

Earthcomb Founder Combines Trash Pickup with Homeless Outreach

Andrew Velikanje went from living in a tent to securing cleanup contracts around the South Coast

In 2020, Andrew Velikanje was living in a tent on Haskell’s Beach after leaving a toxic relationship. After a few days, he got fed up with being associated with the abandoned trash, bike parts and other items left behind, so he started walking a mile to a large trash bin at The Ritz-Carlton Bacara resort in Santa Barbara to clean up the site.

“In doing that, I started really falling in love with removing trash from nature,” Velikanje said. “I’d always done it, even as a kid. I’d go fishing and find a pile of crap on the lake bed and just pick it up.”

From there, Velikanje wanted to take on some bigger projects and began picking up trash along Highway 154. It wasn’t long before people started to take notice. 

Six years later, Velikanje is the man behind Earthcomb, a litter removal and homeless outreach company based in Goleta that employs homeless people for trash cleanups. Since its founding, Earthcomb has been responsible for cleaning more than 480,000 pounds of litter and waste from local communities, including beaches, encampments and along highways.

SB County Homeless Camp Cleanup Efforts Get Boost from Formerly Homeless Man

John Palminteri, KEYT News

“GOLETA, Calif. - A man who was once homeless is now leading an effort to clean up camps that are an environmental risk in Santa Barbara County.

Already there have been cleanups in Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, Lake Cachuma and Goleta.

At each site, hundreds of pounds of trash, debris and leftover camping areas have been removed. Already nearly 16,000 pounds have been hauled out.

There are more than 20 sites currently on the target list.

The environmental non-profit, Heal the Ocean (HTO) has been surveying the sites, and assisting with funds. They are coordinating with Brian Borgatello of MarBorg Industries and HTO advisor Harry Rabin CEO of On the Wave Productions.”

Debunking the Simplicity of Transforming Montecito's Water Woes

Hillary Hauser, Montecito Journal

In Bob Hazard’s guest editorial (MJ 1-8 April 2021) he offers the quote, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there,” as argument for supporting the road he is on personally, to combine water and wastewater districts, connect groundwater basins across the South Coast – extend pipes hither and yon. 

This quote applies to journalism that leads readers around in circles with misstatements and wrong facts. 

Taking Hazard’s points one by one:

“End the Dumping of Treated Wastewater into the Ocean”. . .

Heal the Ocean

Steven Libowitz, Montecito Journal

Heal the Ocean (HTO) has enjoyed a remarkable record of success, particularly for how the nonprofit that was founded barely more than 20 years ago to address contamination of the waters off Summerland from coastal septic system runoff has turned comparatively smaller donations into big projects. HTO smartly and enviably has leveraged modest sums to fund research, gather data, and then reach influential people and governmental agencies to effect massive accomplishments, often through legislative efforts. 

That was how HTO turned a $10,000 investment into a $2 million per year project to cap old oil wells and remove other major environmental hazards along the Central Coast and elsewhere along the state’s shoreline. Just last fall, the HTO-inspired partnership with the State Lands Commission led to the plugging of two more leaking oil wells, Treadwell and NorthStar, with two more such projects planned for the remainder of 2021. . .

Heal the Ocean to the Rescue

Gary Fall, Santa Barbara News-Press

“Last year, an abandoned homeless camp surrounded by trash, bicycle parts, car batteries, flooded tents and other materials became an eyesore on a Montecito beach.

All of that stood on the Graveyards beach at the base of the cliff below the Santa Barbara Cemetery.

On Thursday, Heal the Ocean got a call about the eyesore from a concerned citizen. It took all day that Friday for the organization to figure out what to do about it legally, since you can’t remove a homeless camp in use. . .”

Abandoned Homeless Camp Below Santa Barbara Cemetery Removed Ahead of High Tides

Jade Martinez-Pogue, Noozhawk Staff Writer

“Heal the Ocean leaders worked over the weekend to clear an abandoned homeless camp at a Montecito beach before unusually high tides hit on Monday morning.

The camp had formed on the beach at the base of the cliff below the Santa Barbara Cemetery, filling the area with trash, bicycle parts, car batteries, and flooded tents, according to Hillary Hauser, executive director of Heal the Ocean.

The organization received a call about the camp from a concerned citizen on Thursday, Hauser said, and spent Friday trying to figure out what legal action could be taken.

Heal the Ocean later learned that a king tide, which consists of tide levels about a foot or two higher than average, would be hitting on Monday, along with surf warnings coming on Monday and Tuesday.

Harry Rabin, Heal the Ocean advisory board member, alerted Hauser on Saturday knowing that something must be done to remove the camp before the massive tides swept all the abandoned items into the sea, Hauser said.

“Being Saturday, it was difficult, if not impossible,  to reach any official permission to clear out the wreckage,” she added.

Rabin got to work making calls to the county Fire Department and Sheriff's Office seeking approval to clear the site, while Hauser spent the day trying to find a cleaning crew or junk hauler that could help remove the camp. . .”

A Great Cap to an Otherwise Strange Year

Leslie Westbrook, Montecito Journal

“My great Aunt Betty laughed when I bought my house in Summerland in the early 1980s. She told me that her husband, my great uncle Heywood, used to work on those wells when they lived in Summerland in the 1930s. Little did I know at the time that the very oil wells he worked on had been improperly capped with old mattresses, telephone poles, and god-knows-what-all and they would fail decades later. All had been completely abandoned; some were not even sealed or capped at all. . .”

Nasty Wellheads Gone

Tom White, Santa Barbara Independent

“This morning at Hammonds reef, I was so close to the tug pulling the jack-up barge that just finished capping the two nasty wellheads at Summerland, I could hear the giant diesel engines throbbing.

Or was it my heart, swollen with pride, pounding in my chest?

I watched in the foreground a group of kids surfing, all friends and having a joyful time even though there was very little surf. I wondered if they realized what was passing slowly behind them.

It didn’t matter. Heal the Ocean did what they did for the group of kids and for many more to come.

I was so pumped with pride and joy, that if I could sing, I would have!

What a grand organization is Heal the Ocean. How lucky we are to have them, and especially their absolutely fearless leader Hillary Hauser, who never tires of improving the quality of our valuable marine environment.

Congratulations, Hillary! And the rest of the soldiers who fought so tirelessly to made this happen. . .”

Oil Wells Capped

Josh Grega, Santa Barbara News-Press

“Last weekend, a Curtin barge contracted by the State Lands Commission finished capping the leaking offshore oil wells Treadwell and NorthStar off the coast of Summerland.

As the News-Press reported when the capping of Treadwell kicked off in the middle of November, Treadwell and NorthStar are respectively the second and third abandoned oil wells to be plugged under Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson’s Senate Bill 44. . .”

Leaky Summerland Oil Wells Finally Fully Plugged

Taylor Hayden, Santa Barbara Independent

“Efforts to plug two leaky oil wells that had plagued Summerland Beach since they were improperly abandoned many decades ago came to a happy conclusion this week. 

On Friday, November 27, while the rest of the South Coast was shaking off the effects of turkey tryptophan from the night before, a barge contracted by the State Lands Commission headed down the coast from its mooring near the Santa Barbara Harbor to cap the NorthStar well. Earlier in the month, it had completed its work on the Treadwell well. . .”

Leaky Summerland Oil Wells Are Now Capped

Hillary Hauser of Heal the Ocean, Edhat Santa Barbara

“On Friday afternoon, November 27, 2020, while many of us were still cleaning up our kitchens from Thanksgiving dinners the night before, the Curtin Barge, under contract to the State Lands Commission to cap the leaking Summerland oil wells, was towed from its protective mooring nearer the Santa Barbara Harbor, back down the coast to Summerland where it anchored to begin the process of capping the second, and final, well – NorthStar. Marie Morrisroe caught this sight from her Montecito balcony as they motored by. . .”

Curtain Barge Towed Back Down Coast, Leaving Clean Beaches in its Wake

Hillary Hauser for Heal the Ocean, Noozhawk

“The Curtin Barge, which was under contract to the State Lands Commission (SLC) to cap the leaking Summerland oil wells, on Nov. 27 was towed from its protective mooring nearer the Santa Barbara Harbor, back down the coast to Summerland, where it anchored to begin the process of capping the second, and final well, NorthStar. . .”

Cleaning up the Coastline

Grayce McCormick, Santa Barbara News-Press

“After cleaning up a medium-sized boat that had crashed into the shoreline between East Beach and Hammonds Beach in November, local nonprofit Heal the Ocean believes it’s time for some change.

The crashing waves on Butterfly Beach distributed the broken parts over a half mile of the shoreline over the course of two weeks, creating a hazard for beachgoers. 

However, the mess couldn’t be cleaned up sooner due to the “two-week rule,” which says that if a boat lands on the beach, no one can salvage it, touch it or move anything until the owner has a chance to salvage it themselves. . .”

Broken Boat on Montecito Shoreline Cleaned up After Sending Debris into the Ocean

John Palminteri, Keyt News

MONTECITO, Calif. - A medium-sized boat that crashed into the shoreline below the Santa Barbara cemetery has been cleaned up by a crew from Marborg Industries Wednesday.

The cleanup eliminates serious safety issues from broken pieces of the boat.

Already there have been reports of table tops, wood pieces, cushions and other items believed linked to the damaged vessel getting into the surf line and coming onshore. They've also been spotted in areas where the public is recreating.

That's created a dangerous safety and maritime hazard.

Marborg specializes in boat removals at low tide and has done several over the years on the shoreline when the owners could not take care of it.

Santa Barbara's Heal the Ocean was on scene and funded the cleanup after numerous calls from the public about the broken boat, the mess on the beach and the pollution in the ocean. . .

Oil Well Being Capped Off Summerland Coast

Josh Grega, Santa Barbara News-Press

“A barge off the coast of Summerland is at work capping the abandoned Treadwell oil well.

This is the second well to be capped under Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson’s Senate Bill 44, which was passed in 2017. The first was the Becker well in 2018.

In an interview with the News-Press, Sen. Jackson said the well capping project is going after the most “egregious” and “dangerous” abandoned wells first. . .”

Crews Begin Capping Two Leaking Oil Wells Off Summerland Shore

Jade Martinez-Pogue, Noozhawk Staff Writer

“The Danny C. commercial dive work boat arrived off the Summerland shore on Sunday night to begin the capping of two leaking wellheads.

Commercial divers, hired by InterAct of Ventura, are working to seal off leaking Treadwell and NorthStar oil wells. The entire operation is expected to take two weeks, according to the California State Lands Commission, but leaders of the project are hopeful that a third oil well will be sealed in that duration. . .”

Summerland Oil Cleanup Begins

Heal the Ocean, Edhat

“Just in time for Election Day, comes the moment we’ve been long waiting for, the capping of the two worst oil wells leaking off Summerland Beach: Treadwell & NorthStar.

On November 1, 2020, THE DANNY C commercial dive workboat, captained by Danny Castagnola, will arrive off Summerland, near Treadwell, a leaking well 300 feet offshore. After the workboat anchors, commercial divers hired by InterAct, of Ventura, under contract with the California State Lands Commission (SLC), will begin working with jetting tools to fully expose the wellhead for capping. . .”

Heal the Ocean Imaginary Gala 2020

Heal the Ocean, Edhat

“COME FLY WITH HEAL THE OCEAN, SANTA BARBARA!

Heal the Ocean's Fantasy Chair Julia Louis-Dreyfus invites you to the Heal the Ocean Imaginary Gala 2020. It is guaranteed to be the "best party you never went to!" 

Heal the Ocean inaugurated the Imaginary Event in 2011, and it instantly sold out. We’re glad to bring our Imaginary Gala to GoFundMe because it is a benefit that everyone can participate in and that includes you. . .”

HTO Elects Tom White to its Board of Directors

Heal the Ocean, Edhat

“This special bulletin is to announce that on Thursday, September 24, 2020, Heal the Ocean has elected Tom White to its Board of Directors.

Tom White is well-known in Santa Barbara as the owner, with his son, Adam, of the Santa Barbara Shellfish Company, the Boat House (at Hendry’s Beach); the FisHouse Restaurant on Cabrillo, and Casa Blanca Restaurant on lower State Street. . .”

Permit Review of Summerland Oil Capping Scheduled for Friday

Heal the Ocean, Edhat

“The August hearing date originally set by the California Coastal Commission to consider the permit for the capping of the next set of leaking Summerland oil wells is now set for Friday, September 11, 2020. 

The rescheduling was necessary because of a revised plan reconfigured by the State Lands Commission engineers, InterAct, to accomplish the well capping(s) without the use of the cofferdam, a big metal tube that is sunk around the wellhead to provide space inside for contractors to work, and also to catch any escaping oil. . .”