Poseidon's Toxic Desalination Proposal

The people behind the Poseidon project feel Orange County residents do not pay enough for water. They feel that residents can and should pay. They see a potential profit in  each glass of water, each shower and each toilet flush.  Their plan is simple, add more expensive water that we do not need into our existing water supply and then charge us more for the water we already own. This idea is so profitable that it resurfaces again and again going on nearly 20 years now, and the Sierra Club has been working hard to keep your water supply inexpensive and abundant.

 

The proposed Poseidon Huntington Beach Desalination plant has been the project that will not die for over twenty years.  The project has serious problems including lack of need for the water, high costs, water pollution, risk of earthquake, tsunami, toxins, and sea level rise along with political corruption.  These factors create a project that is toxic to our ocean, community and our government. 

 

The proposed plant would release fifty million gallons a day of brine into the ocean at Huntington State Beach. This concentrated brine has been proven to be toxic through testing at Poseidon’s Carlsbad desalination plant.  If this project is allowed to proceed this toxic brine and the need to use a high velocity jet diffuser to disperse it will create a new dead zone in the ocean.  All marine life that ends up in the discharge area will be killed by the brine or jets, and that is in addition to the marine life that gets sucked into the intake pipes.  Together this amounts to the destruction of over 400 acres of ocean and billions of marine organisms.

 

The project also directly threatens our community through the construction of the project and Poseidon’s political influence over our elected officials.  While there is no plan for how the water will be used, the proposed distribution pipeline poses a significant toxic risk to the community.  The pipeline would run east on Hamilton St. right next to the ASCON toxic waste dump that is adjacent to the Poseidon site.  This California Superfund site consists of 38 acres of land that operated as a permitted landfill from 1938 to 1984. During the oil boom in Huntington Beach, the Site received drilling waste from oil production, and later from the disposal of construction debris and industrial waste.  It contains a mix of toxic chemicals including crude oil processing waste, carcinogens 1,2-dichloroethane, benzene, benzidine, and thallium, and arsenic. A Health Risk Assessment concluded that cancer and non-cancer health effects, both on-site and off-site, exceed acceptable regulatory health benchmarks and require a cleanup. Cleanup commenced  in 2019 but had to  drastically slow down due to toxic dust and odors. Due to damage from stormwater runoff,  the containment berm along Hamilton St. had to be strengthened to avoid collapse and release of toxins. Yet this is exactly where Poseidon wants to put their water pipeline! The construction project would be massive, digging up the street and releasing more toxins into the community. 

 

ASCON Site Vicinity and Features Map GeoSyntec Consultants all rights reserved

“I have lived in the community since 1976, less than 250 yards from Pit F ( the Styrene pit) that is currently covered by a tent due to emissions, and upcoming work. I would be 1272 yards from the potential Poseidon site... downwind. The Ascon Superfund site whose remediation has been halted due to inability to control emissions and hazardous gasses and odors during excavations, is now conducting soil vapor probes on the entire grid/site.  They are still unable to identify the specific chemicals that are causing health risks and odors, and what chemicals caused hundreds in the community  to experience illness in 2019, before it was shut down indefinitely for nuisance and health and human safety concerns. To excavate any surrounding area such as Hamilton Ave which is also nestled in between Edison Community Center ( which has an ongoing methane issue and subsidence) is to create more of a health and human safety issue.  ASCON cannot excavate, and no one feels safe having Hamilton Avenue dug up with what is currently happening at the site.” - Huntington Beach Resident Nancy Buchoz

 

Toxic politics is also part of Poseidon’s effort.  Poseidon spent over $600,000 in campaign contributions and lobbying costs just in 2020, and millions more over the years.  This is the only way Poseidon can keep their boondoggle alive. They have been successful in getting their bought and paid for cronies elected to the Orange County Water District Board of Directors, and influencing state officials including the Governor.  In fact the Governor recently removed William von Blasingame Poseidon’s biggest critic on the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board, the state agency currently reviewing the project, and appointed two Poseidon supporters to move it along.  We can’t let this happen! Plan to participate in the April 16th Regional Board hearing on Poseidon and tell the board members we don’t want this toxic project to move forward.   

 

As we go to press, more malfeasance by the Newsom administration: Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board disclosed that voting members were contacted by Newsom appointee during hearings about the controversial Huntington Beach project.

 

[Header image: Poseidon Desalination Plant, Huntington Beach, CA; John Nilsson all rights reserved]

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