News
News Releases & Air Alerts
APCD Implements Clean Air Fund Projects in Lompoc
Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District (APCD) has funded five projects in Lompoc to help children, families, and seniors breathe cleaner indoor air. Three community facilities — Lompoc Boys & Girls Club, Lompoc Family YMCA, and Dick DeWees Community and Senior Center — are now equipped with high-efficiency air filtration to serve as Clean Air Centers, spaces where people can gather for clean indoor air during wildfire season. At two elementary schools, APCD funded the replacement of 60-year-old classroom furniture with new furniture that ensures clean indoor air.
Air Pollution Control District Launches Prescribed Burns Map
Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District (APCD) is announcing its new Prescribed Burns Map: RxBurns.OurAir.org. Prescribed burns are carefully controlled burns of standing vegetation or burn piles — conducted by trained and certified professionals, usually firefighters — that can help prevent the spread of wildfire, among other ecological benefits. The map is a user-friendly tool to view information about upcoming, active, and past prescribed burns.
APCD Provides 270 Air Purifiers in the Cuyama Valley
Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District (APCD) staff distributed 270 air purifiers in the Cuyama Valley on Friday, a one-day event under APCD’s Clean Air Rooms Program. The school district received 35 air purifiers — one for each classroom and administrative building — and 235 air purifiers were given to residents, the post office, the library, the Sheriff’s Department substation, and the fire station. The air purifiers were distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, limited to one per household, and proof of address was required. Air purifiers help keep indoor air clean — creating a “clean air room” — when wildfire smoke is affecting air quality.
Prescribed Burn Information
Prescribed Burn in Tepusquet Canyon Scheduled for Late October or Early November
This fall, the Santa Barbara County Fire Department plans to conduct prescribed burns for strategic wildland fuel reduction purposes east of Santa Maria in Tepusquet Canyon near Tepusquet Road. The Santa Barbara County Fire Department tentatively plans to burn 289 acres of brush and oak understory over a two-day period. These burns are part of an ongoing management effort to control non-native grasses and establish native bluff scrub vegetation. Prescribed fires typically burn less intensely than wildfires and can help prevent their spread.
Prescribed Burn at UCSB Lagoon Scheduled for Today
WHAT: Approximately one acre of grassland and Coastal Sage/Bluff Scrub will be burned.
WHEN: September 14, depending on conditions. As conditions permit, the burn is scheduled to begin in the late morning or early afternoon and conclude by 4 p.m. on a permissive burn day; the actual burn is likely to last less than an hour.
WHERE: UCSB Lagoon near Campus Point and Coal Oil Point.
Prescribed Burn at UCSB Lagoon Scheduled for Mid-September
The Santa Barbara County Fire Department, in conjunction with UCSB’s Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration, has tentatively scheduled a two-day Prescribed Burn at UCSB Lagoon near Campus Point and Coal Oil Point with a burn window in mid- September. This burn is part of ongoing management effort to control non-native grasses and establish native bluff scrub vegetation. Building on successful past burns, this treatment will be conducted on a day within the burn window with the least amount of fog in order to generate enough heat to reduce the viability of the non-native seed bank, and on a day with the best conditions for dispersion.
Public Notices
Notice of Public Review and Request for Comments
The Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District (District) has issued a draft federal Part 70 permit PTO 13725 to UCSB. This permitting action is the fourth triennial reevaluation for the federal Part 70 permit for UCSB. The Part 70 permit regulates emissions from operations at the facility. Once issued by the District and the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), the Part 70 permit will be valid for three years. The permit will be enforceable by the District, USEPA and the public.
Notice of Public Review and Comment Opportunity
Padre Associates, Inc. has applied to the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District (District) for a permit to excavate and remediate approximately 65,000 cubic yards of hydrocarbon-contaminated soil as part of the Carpinteria Oil & Gas Plant decommissioning project. The impacted soil will be excavated and loaded on trucks for transportation offsite to a State-approved disposal facility. The project site is located within 1,000 feet of Farm to Table.
Notice of Public Review and Request for Comments
The Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District (District) has issued a draft federal Part 70 permit PTO 14708 – R1 to the City of Lompoc for the Lompoc Sanitary Landfill facility, which is part of the Lompoc Sanitary Landfill stationary source, located near the south end of Avalon Street in Lompoc.
