Heal the Ocean Inc

“The heal the ocean board of directors reviews a draft of form 990 before finalized for submittal.”

“Conflict of interest policy and confidentiality policy - if there is concern about a conflict of interest or the possibility of a conflict, the board investigates the issue and takes appropriate corrective action, up to and including a request to resign or dismissal from the board.”

“The full board of directors reviews and approves executive compensation.”

“Governing documents, 990 and financial statements are all available to the public upon request.”

“Continuation of program descriptions: iii. Groundwater. A) groundwater characterization project: on january 26, 2017, the central coast regional water quality control board adopted a resolution for "the human right to water," a program that directs its staff to assist the state water board and relevant stakeholders to collect data to identify and track communities that do not have, or are at risk of not having, safe, clean affordable, and accessible water adequate for human use. In april 2017 heal the ocean hired cal poly student riley haas to work with the regional board, at regional board offices in san luis obispo, on a groundwater characterization project that is identifying and evaluating shallow groundwater quality data in santa barbara county in order to assess pollution sources the report will be released by the regional board in 2019. B) contaminated groundwater cleanup - city of santa barbara. Heal the ocean collaborates with the santa barbara county environmental health services site mitigation unit (smu) to tackle the contaminated groundwater problem beneath the city of santa barbara. We collaborated with santa barbara county hazmat and the regional water quality control board hazmat section to organize information into the state's geotracker database, which has made it possible for the regional board to methodically prioritize sites for cleanup. The cleanup orders continue to come in, heal the ocean is copied on these orders, and in 2018 there were over 7 cleanup orders issued in the city of santa barbara for various groundwater and soil pollution violations. Iv. Onshore pollution a) oil pollution (ocean dumping) i) becker well. On february 26, 2018, a barge from curtin maritime, long beach, arrived to the coastline to cap the leaking becker well on summerland beach. Heal the ocean had succeeded in lobbying for the $1.5 million to do the construction work. Heal the ocean also successfully lobbied to get sb 44 (hannah-beth jackson) passed, which will provide $2 million per year to tackle leaking, derelict wells and structures along the california coast. To prepare for specific projects, and with funds provided by manitou fund, minnesota, heal the ocean hired aqueos, ventura, to conduct an aerial survey of the wells offshore summerland. The results of the aerial survey identified four distinct wells, and heal the ocean continues to work with state lands contractors on plans to cap additional wells off summerland. Ii) other leaking wells off summerland. Harry rabin, an advisory board member of heal the ocean, is also an experienced oil diver and drone photographer, and is working with state lands commission contractors to identify how treadwell will be capped. Rabin guided divers with instructions gathered from the air. Construction is expected to take place during winter 2020. B) styrofoam and single use plastic pollution. Heal the ocean joined other environmental groups in the city of santa barbara to lobby for the elimination of single-use plastic straws and cutlery as well as styrofoam cups and takeout containers in an effort to reduce ocean pollution. The council voted to restrict plastic straws, with provisions for individuals with disabilities. The proposed ordinance on styrofoam contained an exemption clause that would have given food retailers the ability to plead "hardship" every year if they could prove styrofoam was better for their product or that changing to a more environmentally-friendly product would cause economic hardship. Heal the ocean asked the city council to change the wording for exemption to one year only. The city council agreed with us and voted 7-0 to change the ordinance to read that after one year, "hardship" cases will not be renewed. The styrofoam ban went into effect january 1, 2019. Heal the ocean is now working with marborg industries to facilitate a styrofoam recycling facility in santa barbara. C) summerland homeless. Homelessness is widely recognized as a major source of water p”