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http://www.ocregister.com/2017/11/19/huntington-beach-desalination-plant-challenged-in-court/
Huntington Beach desalination plant challenged in court
Lauren Williams | lawilliams@scng.com | Orange County Register
PUBLISHED: November 19, 2017 at 5:03 pm | UPDATED: November 19, 2017 at 5:17 pm
A coalition of non-profits is asking a superior court to reverse a state agency’s decision to greenlight a long-proposed, controversial desalination plant in Huntington Beach.
In a lawsuit filed in Sacramento Friday, Nov. 17, the three coastal advocacy groups allege an inadequate environmental review was conducted on the impacts of building a desalination plant and that the State Lands Commission failed to examine the plant’s impacts on the ocean in its entirety.
The Poseidon desalination plant has been proposed for the site of the AES power plant on Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach for nearly 20 years, and has been continually challenged and fought by environmental groups. Its opponents contend that the intake and outfall pipes could suck in tiny marine life and have advocated for subsurface wells that the builder deemed infeasible.
The plant would churn out some 50 million gallons each day of desalted ocean water for use to Orange County residents. It would cost nearly $1 billion in private and public funding to build out the infrastructure to get the water to residents and businesses.
The latest legal challenge, by California Coastkeeper Alliance, California Coastal Protection Network and Orange County Coastkeeper, is the sixth one the Huntington Beach plant has faced.
A representative building the plant was critical of two of the three non-profits, saying they are not invested in Orange County.
“The lawsuit challenging the State Lands Commission’s approval of the Huntington Beach desalination project is a desperate and frivolous ploy by out-of-town special interest groups to deny Orange County a locally controlled, drought-proof drinking water supply,” said Scott Maloni, vice president of project management with Poseidon Water, who is overseeing the building of the desalination plant.
“We are confident the state Attorney General’s office will successfully defend the State Lands Commission’s approval of the Huntington Beach project,” he said.
On Aug. 31 the three-member State Lands Commission voted to renewed Poseidon’s existing lease on the intake and outfall pipes that run under the state beach into the ocean. The move was one of the last three regulatory hurdles the plant faced before construction could begin. Maloni said the latest legal challenge would not slow the plant’s construction.
Proponents of the plant have advocated for its construction, saying the 50 million gallons each day from the plant would be a source of locally produced clean water during California’s droughts and the construction of the plant would create jobs for local workers.
Opponents have long contended the water created by the plant is expensive for ratepayers, microscopic marine life could be affected and other drought-proof measures could be taken before the state turns to desalting ocean water.
Water taken from the county’s underground aquifer costs about $400 per acre foot, while water imported from the Colorado River and Northern California costs about $1,000 per acre foot. Desalinated water costs about $2,100 an acre foot, which could mean a $3 to $6 increase each month for ratepayers.
Advocates for the desalination plant have said that as water becomes increasingly scarce the price of imported water will approach the price of desalted water.
Huntington Beach desalination plant challenged in court
Lauren Williams | lawilliams@scng.com | Orange County Register
PUBLISHED: November 19, 2017 at 5:03 pm | UPDATED: November 19, 2017 at 5:17 pm
A coalition of non-profits is asking a superior court to reverse a state agency’s decision to greenlight a long-proposed, controversial desalination plant in Huntington Beach.
In a lawsuit filed in Sacramento Friday, Nov. 17, the three coastal advocacy groups allege an inadequate environmental review was conducted on the impacts of building a desalination plant and that the State Lands Commission failed to examine the plant’s impacts on the ocean in its entirety.
The Poseidon desalination plant has been proposed for the site of the AES power plant on Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach for nearly 20 years, and has been continually challenged and fought by environmental groups. Its opponents contend that the intake and outfall pipes could suck in tiny marine life and have advocated for subsurface wells that the builder deemed infeasible.
The plant would churn out some 50 million gallons each day of desalted ocean water for use to Orange County residents. It would cost nearly $1 billion in private and public funding to build out the infrastructure to get the water to residents and businesses.
The latest legal challenge, by California Coastkeeper Alliance, California Coastal Protection Network and Orange County Coastkeeper, is the sixth one the Huntington Beach plant has faced.
A representative building the plant was critical of two of the three non-profits, saying they are not invested in Orange County.
“The lawsuit challenging the State Lands Commission’s approval of the Huntington Beach desalination project is a desperate and frivolous ploy by out-of-town special interest groups to deny Orange County a locally controlled, drought-proof drinking water supply,” said Scott Maloni, vice president of project management with Poseidon Water, who is overseeing the building of the desalination plant.
“We are confident the state Attorney General’s office will successfully defend the State Lands Commission’s approval of the Huntington Beach project,” he said.
On Aug. 31 the three-member State Lands Commission voted to renewed Poseidon’s existing lease on the intake and outfall pipes that run under the state beach into the ocean. The move was one of the last three regulatory hurdles the plant faced before construction could begin. Maloni said the latest legal challenge would not slow the plant’s construction.
Proponents of the plant have advocated for its construction, saying the 50 million gallons each day from the plant would be a source of locally produced clean water during California’s droughts and the construction of the plant would create jobs for local workers.
Opponents have long contended the water created by the plant is expensive for ratepayers, microscopic marine life could be affected and other drought-proof measures could be taken before the state turns to desalting ocean water.
Water taken from the county’s underground aquifer costs about $400 per acre foot, while water imported from the Colorado River and Northern California costs about $1,000 per acre foot. Desalinated water costs about $2,100 an acre foot, which could mean a $3 to $6 increase each month for ratepayers.
Advocates for the desalination plant have said that as water becomes increasingly scarce the price of imported water will approach the price of desalted water.
