Some members of Congress serving the Tri-Counties are trying to step up efforts to create a new marine sanctuary in the region.
U.S. Senator Alex Padilla and Democratic Congressman Salud Carbajal of Santa Barbara are pushing some federal agencies to officially create the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary.
The plan calls for creating a sanctuary along parts of the Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo County coastlines which would provide new protections for the coastline, and ocean. There’s widespread support for a proposal which calls for a phased approach to creation of the sanctuary’s boundaries.
It would allow the development of some offshore wind power sites near Morro Bay, and then their inclusion in the sanctuary. The proposal is now in the hands of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which can make the designation.
