The Santa Barbara Channel and its watersheds have suffered numerous oil spills in the past several decades. Our community knows all too well that as long as oil is produced, transported, and consumed in our region, oil spills will continue to happen. Santa Barbara Channelkeeper works to protect the Santa Barbara Channel and its watersheds from oil spills by working to improve oil spill prevention and response by playing an active role in oil spill response planning, advocating for stronger regulations, and monitoring our ocean, beaches, and inland waterways to identify potential spills and document impacts.
After the 2015 Refugio Oil Spill, many people in our community were hungry for information and eager to get involved and help with the clean-up, but didn’t know where to start or how to help without getting in the way of the official response. Thanks to funding from the Fund for Santa Barbara, the J.S. Bower Foundation, Patagonia and the Crawford Idema Family Foundation, Santa Barbara Channelkeeper developed this resource guide to provide useful information and resources to help concerned citizens understand the threats posed by oil spills, the mechanics of oil spill response, what to do (and not do) to get involved, and more.
Click here to download the guide.
In the event of a future spill, Channelkeeper will update this guide with relevant and timely information and resources.