Keeping Watch for Clean Water
Santa Barbara County Flood Control District maintains a network of debris basins that help reduce the risk of flooding during rain events. These debris basins fill with mud, silt, and rock and require ongoing clearing to function properly. Historically, the County disposed of excess material cleared from the basins in upland locations. However, following the 2018… Read more
Areas of the Santa Barbara Channel are the focus of future aquaculture development, including harmful finfish aquaculture projects. Channelkeeper recently joined the Center for Food Safety, fishermen organizations, other nonprofits, and the Quinault Indian Nation in suing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over its issuance of Nationwide Permit 56, which authorizes the development of offshore… Read more
In response to a Trump-era Executive Order, federal agencies have begun steps to identify locations as potential sites for commercial aquaculture operations. The Santa Barbara Channel—along with areas in the Gulf of Mexico and waters off Marina del Rey, California—was selected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as one of the first areas to… Read more
California recently took groundbreaking steps to cut plastic pollution and hold the plastics industry accountable for plastic waste, setting the nation’s toughest rules for reducing plastic waste.On June 30th, Senate Bill 54 was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom. The bill represents the most significant overhaul of California’s plastics and packaging recycling policy in history and surpasses other… Read more
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion today ruling that the federal government violated environmental protection laws when it approved permits for fracking and acidizing (otherwise referred to as “well stimulation treatments,” or “WSTs”) from platforms offshore California. Today’s ruling protects the sensitive coastline and marine waters, local communities, and wildlife, including threatened… Read more