Coastal Commission to weigh desalination plan opposed by Sierra Club

Poseidon Resources, the Connecticut based corporation that is trying to build an environmentally destructive desalination plant in Huntington Beach, is continuing its push to build support for their project throughout Orange County. 

The destructive proposal would include an open ocean intake that destroys huge amounts of marine life and will use enough energy to power 30,000 homes, increasing greenhouse gas emissions. Even worse the project will discharge a hyper-saline brine mixed with cleaning fluids and other chemicals into the ocean off Huntington Beach, displacing marine life.   

Poseidon has been busy in 2013. In late January, they released their “term sheet” that serves as a draft contract for supplying water to Orange County water distributors including local cities and water districts. This term sheet details that the water that Poseidon would supply will be at least twice as expensive as our current cost for water and that the buyers will have to pay for the water they sign up for whether they actually take it or not. 

In late February, Poseidon released a Letter of Intent to the same group. The Letter Of Intent (LOI) is disguised as a non-binding agreement to negotiate with Poseidon, but slipped into the letter is a reference to an amount of water the city may purchase, and a requirement to support Poseidon in obtaining the permits necessary for their project.  Poseidon is telling potential investors for the project that the amount of water mentioned in the LOI is a commitment to buy, and is using the permit clause to get past state regulators.

Activists have been fighting back, educating the public at community events, distributing 40, 000 copies of our No Water Deal With Poseidon mailer and attending city council and water board meetings to speak against the project.  Our message is gaining attention and the result has been a 50% drop in the commitments for water from the project.  

But that has not stopped Poseidon’s relentless multimillion dollar campaign to build the project. Lately they have stepped up their efforts to win the support of state legislators, hoping that their support will help them build the project. To counter this effort the Sierra Club is circulating a petition to the Governor that asks for him to oppose the project and the privatization our water supply.

More importantly Poseidon is moving ahead in its quest to obtain a permit from the California Coastal Commission (CCC) to build the Huntington Beach project, and the permit request will be heard by the CCC at their June 12-14 meeting in Long Beach. We do not know the exact day of the meeting but we will need you to attend if possible. 

Poseidon will be busing in hundreds of supporters so the Club needs you there to show that there is real opposition to this project. The Sierra Club is circulating a petition to the Coastal Commission opposing the Poseidon Huntington Beach Desalination Project so keep your eye out for the petitions, sign them both and mark your calendar for the June meeting. We will continue to update you with and additional information on the upcoming Coastal Commission meeting and how you can help stop this project.

For background information, go to "Desalination destroys the environment and isn't a quick fix for Southern California's water woes."

Photo: Activists spell out "At What Cost?," in reference to saving the beach from developing a desalination plant.