Join us Oct. 19 to speak out against plan to build Huntington Beach desalination plant
The California State Lands Commission on Oct. 19 will consider approving an Environmental Impact Report, or EIR, for a destructive Huntington Beach desalination plant by the Poseidon Water. Sierra Club needs you to join us in telling the agency not to certify the plant's EIR and give a greenlight to this damaging project.
Here's why the club opposes the plan:
1. Poseidon’s plant would threaten our environment.
The Sierra Club has taken a strong position opposing the proposed plant due to its multiple negative impacts on the environment. These include killing marine life, polluting the ocean with chemical laced brine and contributing to climate change through greenhouse gas emissions. The club submitted a comment letter on the EIR that details these concerns, along with the fact that the EIR is incomplete and does not meet the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act to analyze all aspects of the project. Instead the commission is only analyzing the seawater intake and discharge technology modifications Poseidon is proposing, ignoring the rest of the project.
2. A desalination plant would only benefit Poseidon’s insiders.
Poseidon’s saga is rather pathetic. Over the years, Poseidon has spent more than $1.6 million on lobbying and campaign contributions while seeking approval to build the desalination plant in Huntington Beach. Fifteen years of struggle has led to the company taking desperate measures to move the project forward. This includes recently hiring former U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer and former California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, as celebrity lobbyists to promote the project to state regulators and legislators. The project is also on Donald Trump’s list of 50 priority projects. For more information, visit http://poseidonmisadventure.com/.
3. Orange County doesn’t need Poseidon’s overpriced water.
A 2016 Water Reliability Study by the Municipal Water District of Orange County shows the water from the project is not needed in Orange County. There are other less costly and environmentally superior sources for future water supplies, the report says. Poseidon’s water would cost more than twice as much as imported water and six times as much as the cost of groundwater. The plant would use massive amounts of energy, enough to power 30,000 homes, adding to climate change. The plant would also harm the marine environment by killing marine life in its intake and outfall and by discharging chemical-laden brine. For more information visit https://www.californiadesalfacts.org/.
4. Poseidon is ignoring statewide standards.
In 2016, the State Water Resources Control Board adopted a statewide policy to guide the development of desalination plants in California. The policy details how desalination plants should be designed to meet actual water needs while protecting the environment. Poseidon has largely ignored the policy guidelines and continues to promote its oversized, environmentally damaging plant in an area that does not need the water. There is no reason to sell off our environment to a Wall Street water company focused solely on profits, when we have better options available to meet our long-term needs.
Will you make your voice heard on October 19?
Join us 8 a.m. Oct. 19 at Huntington Beach City Hall, 2000 Main St., Huntington Beach. Please come to remind the State Lands Commission that our environment is a high priority. We will have talking points if you want to speak and signs to hold if you don’t. We need as many supporters as possible to make our collective voice heard. Poseidon will bring its supporters from the building trade unions along with their political lackeys. You can help balance that out. There is a power in organized opposition that can make a difference.
Ray Hiemstra is the Orange County Conservation Committee Chair for the Angeles Chapter Sierra Club.
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