Keeping Watch for Clean Water
On April 17, 2026, Judge Donna Geck ruled in favor of environmental groups, affirming the Consent Decree that settled legal claims from the devastating 2015 oil spill at Refugio State Beach.
Santa Barbara Channelkeeper’s executive director, Ted Morton, speaks to the recent executive order forging the restart of oil drilling in the Santa Barbara Channel.
Community members gathered on March 14, 2026, for Santa Barbara Channelkeeper’s Blue Water Ball, a fundraising event and special celebration of the organization’s twenty-five years of protecting and restoring the Santa Barbara Channel and its watersheds.
Santa Barbara Channelkeeper is pleased to present Blue Water Ball 2026, an elegant evening celebrating 25 years of protecting and restoring the Santa Barbara Channel and its watersheds. This year’s anniversary event will feature remarks by the Honorable Jane Lubchenco, PhD, a world-renowned marine ecologist and one of the most influential ocean leaders of our time.
Channelkeeper is pleased to announce the kickoff of a year-long celebration of its 25th anniversary as an independent conservation organization, marking a quarter century of science-based environmental advocacy, education, fieldwork, community engagement, and enforcement to protect the Santa Barbara Channel and its watersheds.
Santa Barbara Channelkeeper is thrilled to announce that the Watershed Brigade, its community cleanup program, has successfully removed over 50,000 pounds of trash from the local environment.
Twenty-four volunteers joined representatives from Santa Barbara Channelkeeper, Island Packers, Santa Barbara Adventure Company, and the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation on May 29th, 2025, to clear approximately1,400 pounds of trash and fishing gear from Yellowbanks, a stretch of cobble beach on the south side of Santa Cruz Island, and Driftwood Cove on Anacapa Island.
A coalition of environmental groups, including Santa Barbara Channelkeeper, filed a lawsuit challenging state waivers granted to a Texas oil company for the restart of a defective pipeline on the California Coast – the same pipeline that ruptured near Refugio Beach in 2015 and caused one of the worst oil spills in California history.
On Tuesday, November 19, 2024, twenty-three volunteers joined representatives from Santa Barbara Channelkeeper, Island Packers, Santa Barbara Adventure Company, and the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation to clear approximately 2,100 pounds of trash and fishing gear from Yellowbanks, a stretch of cobble beach on the south side of Santa Cruz Island, and Driftwood Cove on Anacapa […]
On Saturday, April 20th, twenty-five volunteers with Santa Barbara Channelkeeper and members of the commercial fishing community and Tidy Seas worked together to remove more than fifty lobster traps that had washed ashore between Goleta Beach and More Mesa.
On April 9, 2024, the Santa Barbara City Council voted in favor of improving the City of Santa Barbara’s Cruise Ship Program with measures to limit the number of ships calling on Santa Barbara and prioritize those ships with advanced pollution prevention technology and solid environmental compliance records.
Santa Barbara Channelkeeper and the Ecological Rights Foundation announced on November 14, 2023, that they have entered into a consent decree with Hot Line Construction, Inc. resolving a citizen lawsuit concerning a contaminated utility pole storage facility site near the Santa Barbara Airport. Hot Line Construction, Inc. stored wooden utility poles treated with toxic chemical […]
A coalition of environmental organizations, rural Latino community and farmworker groups, and commercial and recreational fishing organizations filed a lawsuit against state agencies’ decision to strike down measures to control extensive nitrate pollution in the Central Coast region.
Channelkeeper volunteers and members of the commercial fishing community worked together on April 22nd to removemore than thirty lobster traps that had washed ashore.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the federal government violated environmental protection laws when it approved permits for fracking and acidizing from platforms offshore California. The Court agreed with the Environmental Defense Center and Santa Barbara Channelkeeper that the government failed to conduct a full environmental review and should have prepared an Environmental […]
Santa Barbara Channelkeeper and the Ecological Rights Foundation recently reached a settlement agreement with Southern California Edison under which Edison has agreed to clean up utility pole storage and processing facilities identified as sources of toxic contaminants that flow into streams, rivers, and other waterways.
Santa Barbara Channelkeeper’s advocacy for Ventura River reached a critical milestone on August 5th, when the City of Ventura, for the first time in history, curtailed all pumping at its well field at Foster Park, specifically for the purpose of restoring flows to the parched river ecosystem.
Santa Barbara Channelkeeper is pleased to announce the appointment of Ted Morton as its new Executive Director. Ted joins Channelkeeper at a pivotal time as the organization intensifies its efforts to tackle large-scale environmental issues through bold local action.
On June 19th, volunteers from Santa Barbara Channelkeeper and members of the commercial fishing community will work together to remove derelict lobster traps from the sand along Santa Barbara’s coastline. Volunteers will dig out partially buried traps and prepare them to be loaded onto a commercial fishing vessel for proper disposal.
The City of San Buenaventura and Santa Barbara Channelkeeper, a local environmental group, have announced an amendment to their settlement agreement in the lawsuit regarding the pumping and diversion of water from the Ventura River Watershed. Both Channelkeeper and the City remain committed to ensuring the protection of this local water source and the species […]
For 20 years Santa Barbara Channelkeeper has protected the precious water resources in and along the Santa Barbara Channel through science-based advocacy, education, field work, and enforcement. The organization is dedicated to actively addressing the primary threats to these water resources, including plastic pollution, urban and agricultural runoff, dewatered streams, wetland destruction, sewage spills, offshore […]
The City of San Buenaventura and Santa Barbara Channelkeeper are pleased to announce an interim settlement in the lawsuit regarding the pumping and diversion of water from the Ventura River Watershed. Both Channelkeeper and the City are dedicated to ensuring the protection of this finite water source and the habitat and species that rely on […]
(June 18, 2019) Santa Barbara, CA—Today, the Environmental Defense Center (“EDC”) and Santa Barbara Channelkeeper (“SBCK”) announced that they will go to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to defend their court victory that currently prohibits the use of fracking and acidizing offshore California. The groups will also seek full environmental review […]
May 22, 2019 (Santa Barbara, California) – Yesterday, the Santa Barbara City Council received an update on the City’s progress in reducing sewage spills, prompted by a lawsuit filed by local water watchdog Santa Barbara Channelkeeper in 2011. Thanks to heightened investments in sewer system inspections, cleaning and repairs, the City reduced spills from a […]
A federal judge issued an order last night declaring that the oil company DCOR, LLC cannot proceed with its two proposed permits to conduct fracking in the Santa Barbara Channel at Platform Gilda. In November 2018, the judge ruled in favor of the Environmental Defense Center (“EDC”) and Santa Barbara Channelkeeper (“SBCK”), prohibiting the Trump […]
A major win in the battle against offshore fracking in California! A federal judge issued an order today (11/9) declaring that the federal government violated environmental protection laws when it approved permits for fracking from platforms offshore California. The judge agreed with Channelkeeper and the Environmental Defense Center that the government failed to conduct adequate consultation […]
Big Win for Clean Water Today! The Appellate Court ruled in Santa Barbara Channelkeeper and our partners’ favor that the State Water Board needs to implement stronger regulations to protect waterways and communities from agricultural pollution on the Central Coast.
A great op-ed published in the Santa Barbara Independent, co-authored by our executive director Kira Redmond, SB County Supervisor Das Williams and Bren School Professor Bob Wilkinson. Read More!
On September 13, 2016 Santa Barbara County and Santa Barbara Channelkeeper settled a lawsuit to clean up pollution from the County’s South Coast Recycling and Transfer Station.
On August 10th, Santa Barbara Channelkeeper and our partners at EDC filed a notice of intent to sue the federal government for violating the Endangered Species Act because it failed to consult with expert wildlife agencies regarding potential impacts to at least 25 threatened and endangered species, including whales, sea otters, fur seals, sea turtles, […]
On March 23, 2016, the Santa Barbara City Council denied a plea by environmental watchdog Santa Barbara Channelkeeper to revise a study of the feasibility of alternatives to make the City’s desalination plant less environmentally harmful, which Channelkeeper contends was intentionally designed to find alternatives infeasible.
On December 7, 2015, Channelkeeper and EDC filed two lawsuits challenging the federal government’s refusal to disclose information on oil pipelines in southern California, including the Plains Pipeline that ruptured in May and spilled 143,000 gallons of oil on the Gaviota Coast.
August 11, 2015 (Santa Barbara, California) – Superior Court Judge Timothy Frawley ruled that California is not doing enough to curb the witch’s brew of pollution pouring off of California farms. Judge Frawley ordered the State and Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board to create new rules to protect human health and the environment, […]
April 27, 2015 (Santa Barbara, California) – At a hearing in California Superior Court in San Francisco this past Thursday (April 23, 2015), Santa Barbara Channelkeeper won a critical victory in its lawsuit to restore flows in the Ventura River. The City of Ventura pumps hundreds of millions of gallons of water from the […]
In the wake of today’s oil spill, where a pipeline ruptured and spilled an estimated 21,000 gallons of oil at Refugio State Beach, the local environmental watchdog organization Santa Barbara Channelkeeper issued the following statement: “Channelkeeper is sickened to learn of the oil spill in the Santa Barbara Channel and is extremely concerned about […]
On Friday Santa Barbara Channelkeeper petitioned two government agencies – the Ventura County Environmental Health Division (VCHD) and the California Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) – to take action to protect public health and the environment from contamination emanating from oil fields along the north coast of Ventura County. Citing a recent […]
Local non-profit Santa Barbara Channelkeeper is teaming up with local brewery Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co. (FigMtnBrew) to promote water conservation by co-hosting a public event on Sunday, February 8, 2015 at 11:00 AM at FigMtnBrew’s Santa Barbara location, 137 Anacapa Street, to demonstrate how to convert beer barrels into rain barrels.
Santa Barbara Channelkeeper, a nonprofit organization that works to protect and restore the Santa Barbara Channel and its watersheds, filed a lawsuit Friday against the State Water Resources Control Board to protect the Ventura River and the people, animals and plants that depend on it.
A federal judge with the United States District Court for the Central District of California has approved a settlement agreement between environmental organizations Santa Barbara Channelkeeper and the Environmental Defense Center and the owners of the Ojai Quarry in Ventura County.
California Coastkeeper Alliance and 12 local Waterkeeper organizations today announced the launch of the Blue Business Council, a network of California businesses working to protect the State’s most valuable and threatened natural capital—its coast, ocean, bays, rivers, and streams.
This Saturday, June 7, Santa Barbara Channelkeeper will be providing on-the-water educational experiences for local youth and community groups as part of a host of ocean stewardship activities planned for World Oceans Day.
Next Monday (December 30, 2013), some of the year’s highest tides will lash California’s coastal and bay shorelines, providing a glimpse of what the state can expect as sea levels rise in the coming years. These “king tides” – a term used to describe the highest winter tides – will be captured by citizen imagery […]
Today, Santa Barbara Channelkeeper and the Environmental Defense Center filed a lawsuit in federal court against Gralar LLC, dba Mosler Rock Product, for violations of the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act at its Mosler Rock Ojai Quarry.
Channelkeeper is sponsoring Santa Barbara’s sixth annual “Day Without A Bag” on Wednesday, December 19, 2012 as part of an ongoing effort to address plastic bag pollution.
Over the next three days, some of the year’s highest tides will hit California shorelines, providing a glimpse of what the state can expect as sea level rises in the coming years.
Today, Santa Barbara Channelkeeper, together with The Otter Project, San Luis Obispo Coastkeeper, and California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, sued the State Water Resources Control Board for delaying regulations meant to protect the public and the environment.