State panel to vote today on H.B. desalination facility
Jaimee Lynn Fletcher
Orange County Register
10/28/2010
HUNTINGTON BEACH – Poseidon Resources Inc. is scheduled to ask Friday for one of its two final approvals before it can start construction on its $350 million desalination facility.
Company officials will go before the State Lands Commission at Culver City Hall at 10 a.m. If the project receives the green light, Poseidon would next go to the California Coastal Commission for final approvals.
Poseidon officials are expected to present a letter signed by all of Orange County's legislators voicing support for the project.
The desalination facility would turn out 50 million gallons of fresh water a day, which is expected to account for about 8 percent of the county's water supply and help combat the excessive drought plaguing the county.
Company officials say the project would create jobs, generate tax revenue for Huntington Beach and provide $1.9 million in improvements near the desalination facility or along the pipeline route and another $2 million for citywide improvements.
Project opponents say the desalination facility would harm sea life and use up too much energy. They also say desalinated water would be too expensive for tax payers.
Despite those concerns, city officials approved an environmental report that said there would not be significant impacts on the environment that would require halting the project.
Poseidon first gained approvals from the city in 2006 but had to come back after the company tweaked its plans. The desalination facility is planned to be built adjacent to the AES power plant, which has an intake pipe in the ocean it uses to suck in sea water and cool its equipment.
The State Water Resource Control Board plans to require AES to reduce its salt water intake by 2020, which means Poseidon will have to operate independently of the power plant. Poseidon would use AES discharge water until the state policy takes effect, company officials said.
