It\u2019s the next chapter in an alarming saga that started with UC Santa Barbara researcher David Valentine\u2019s discovery of eerie barrels on the sea floor, surrounded by shocking amounts of DDT.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n Then his team discovered that what they found was just one portion of a vast former dumping site<\/a> for chemical waste and other materials, including military munitions.\u00a0<\/p>\n The consequences are dire: The pollutants are killing sea life and posing risks to fisheries and human health.<\/p>\n Now, Valentine and his team are building off the threads of his original project and trying to generate a series of maps showing the overall scope of contamination. Despite uncovering a dump site bigger than the City of San Francisco, they still have not determined any clear boundaries to the dumping.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been chugging away for the last couple of years now, making good, measurable progress,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n What are the ecological ramifications of these different modes of disposal, his team is asking. How is it distributed throughout the ocean? He said they have, so far, only estimated the total amount that is out there. But \u201cwe don\u2019t quite have all the bounds,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been going through the really nuanced science of understanding where all this stuff is; trying to lay the foundation for thinking about how it might be working its way into the ecosystem,\u201d he explained. That includes DDT and \u201call the other crap that got dumped,\u201d and there was a lot of it \u2014 including low-level radioactive waste.\u00a0<\/p>\n So far, they have completed a series of base maps and other foundational work, uncovering different industrial histories and working their way through the \u201cmix of stuff down there.\u201d<\/p>\n His team has also been studying bacteria and how it could potentially be used to break down these compounds in the university\u2019s young National Science Foundation\u2013funded Biofoundry<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n But funding for much of this work will run out within a year.<\/p>\n Funding for Valentine\u2019s work \u2014 which is being built upon by other institutions, including the Scripps Institute of Oceanography \u2014 is coming to the end of the road, after attracting the attention and support of the late senator Dianne Feinstein and then Alex Padilla. Feinstein helped launch a series of congressionally directed appropriations during the prior administration, \u201cthat got us started on really deep diving into this issue,\u201d Valentine said.<\/p>\n When the funding runs out, \u201cit all comes to a grinding halt,\u201d Valentine said. They have about a year left before it does. They are going to use that time to tie up loose ends, but it will leave a \u201chuge amount left unknown,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Carbajal and Padilla\u2019s new legislation would help the work continue by supporting the community of scientists working on the issue. \u201cFor decades, no federal agency has taken responsibility for assessing these dump sites,\u201d Carbajal\u2019s office said. Valentine called it an \u201cimportant next step.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Specifically, the act would direct the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to monitor waste sites in the San Pedro Basin, study how toxic chemicals like DDT spread into the ocean food web, and build scientific tools to track ocean dumping, according to Carbajal\u2019s office.\u00a0<\/p>\n NOAA, in coordination with the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Defense, may also award grants to academic and research institutions, like UCSB, to map the contamination, study co-contaminants and chemical mixtures, figure out movement, fate, and breakdown processes, and look into bioaccumulation and biomagnification in ecosystems.<\/p>\n It\u2019ll be a program to keep an eye on the issue and move research forward, providing grants to teams like Valentine\u2019s funding to continue to study the issue, but also allowing a broader scope. \u201cHow can we apply those lessons to all the other waste dump sites that exist around the country?\u201d Valentine mused.<\/p>\n The bill would authorize $6 million annually from Fiscal Year 2026 through Fiscal Year 2032 to carry out these critical activities. It still has a long, bureaucratic process ahead of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n On Sunday, the Marjorie Luke Theater is showing the Los Angeles Times documentary on Valentine\u2019s work and journalist Rosanna Xia\u2019s Pulitzer-nominated efforts to unravel the \u201cforgotten history\u201d behind ocean dumping, called Out of Plain Sight. Together, the pair tell the story of toxic waste dumped off California\u2019s coast, the lingering consequences, and the next steps. Carbajal will give introductory words, and after the showing, the theater will host a panel with Xia, Valentine, and other involved scientists and crew.\u00a0<\/p>\n The film \u201cmakes an impact everywhere it goes,\u201d said Valentine. Since the film premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival last year<\/a>, Valentine has been making his way through the film festival circuit and doing panels all over the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think people walk away understanding this issue in a way that I never would have expected,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a great vehicle for revealing the stressors that the ocean is facing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Tickets are available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Screenshot-2026-10-23-at-2.09.48-PM.png\")
David Valentine | Credit: Ingrid Bostrom file photo<\/p>\n
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