The following is an advisory from Pam Lombardo, UCSB Acting Associate Vice Chancellor, Administrative Services, emailed to the campus community on May 21, 2015:
We are writing to update our community on the most recent news concerning the spill and the efforts to contain and clean up the oil and to share links to additional information.
The U.S. Coast Guard working with federal, state and local agencies continues to oversee the response efforts and has set up an Emergency Operations Center in Santa Barbara County facilities. A website (http://www.refugioresponse.com/) has been created where official updates will be posted. University administrative personnel are participating and assisting in the coordination of the response and many of our researchers are assisting with the monitoring and response efforts.
Early today, the City of Goleta announced that the City is restricting access to beaches northwest of our campus to keep access open for responders and clean-up crews. Refugio and El Capitan beaches, which yesterday were closed by County Public Health officials, remain closed.
To ensure access to official responders and to protect wildlife, UC Santa Barbara is temporarily closing access to the area around Coal Oil Point until further notice. We will continue to monitor the spill and may need to restrict access to or close additional beaches based on the movement of the oil.
The Coast Guard is directing questions related to volunteering to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (). Note that the CDFW is NOT requesting the public’s assistance to help with oil spill response operations at this time. They are working with the University of California’s Oiled Wildlife Care Network’s staff and pre-trained volunteers, and the CDFW’s Natural Resource volunteers for oiled animal recovery and transport. They ask that people refrain from picking up oiled wildlife, as doing so can cause more harm than good. They advise that the best way to assist is to report oiled wildlife by calling 877-UCD-OWCN (823-6926).
We will continue to share any campus-related updates as appropriate.
More information and updates about the spill can be found at the following links:
- Oil Spill Operations Center – http://www.refugioresponse.com/
- California Fish and Wildlife: Spill Watch –
- US Coast Guard –
- Santa Barbara County, Office of Emergency Management –
- Santa Barbara County public health information related to the spill –
