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. . .”