If you’ve ever wondered who or what is dirtying the air in your neighborhood, the Air Pollution Control District (APCD) can show you.
Whether it’s a nearby landfill, autobody shop, dry cleaner, gas station, or winery, the agency has a newly updated map showing all of the stationary sources of air pollution permitted in Santa Barbara County.
Company histories, active permits and applications, and 10 years of annual reports, inspections, and notices of violations are all included. Also on the map is real-time air-quality-index data from each of the agency’s air-quality-monitoring stations — on Wednesday, for example, the City of Santa Barbara was in the yellow zone for fine particulate matter, meaning the level of health concern was “moderate.”
The ACPD first launched the Permitted Facilities Map in 2017 to keep the public informed. In the years after, the agency was asked to make the map more visually appealing, user-friendly, and functional, so it hired an outside contractor in 2024 to revamp it.
“We are proud to be one of the only air districts in California to provide such a transparent way for the public to access facility records,” said Aeron Arlin Genet, APCD’s executive director. “Whether someone is casually searching for information or looking to do an in-depth search, our map provides a complete picture for all of the sources within our regulatory jurisdiction.”
APCD staff are available to help first-time users of the Permitted Facilities Map navigate its features. For questions on how to use the map, email apcd@sbcapcd.org.
The map can be found here: map.ourair.org.
