A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
May 13, 2009
2. Supply –
Agency rethinking permit for Poseidon
New concerns on desalination plant
Judge rules desal plant decision was appropriate
The Associated Press
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Judge rules desal plant decision was appropriate
The Associated Press – 5/12/09
The Surfrider Foundation and the Planning and Conservation League argued the commission's approval in 2007 failed to require that the developer reduce the damage to marine life caused by the plant's intake valves, which suck in and destroy fish, larvae and marine life.
Superior Court Judge Judith Hayes ruled that the commission's approval of the project in
"We're pleased that the court has rejected the latest attempt to derail the Carlsbad Desalination Project by a narrow special interest opposed to seawater desalination," Poseidon Resources Vice President Scott Maloni said. "We hope Surfrider Foundation will decide to put the interests of the
Surfrider attorney Marco Gonzalez said off-site mitigation efforts do not make up for not using the latest and best technology to reduce the harm to fish, as required by law. Such options, such as underground intake valves, are not feasible at the
"They're anything but in the clear, not to mention that there are two other lawsuits pending," Gonzalez said.
Surfrider's other two cases – against the San Diego Regional Water Control Board for approving the plant's permit and against the State Lands Commission over the plant's lease – are scheduled for trial next month before Judge Hayes.
The plant would produce 50 million gallons of water per day, enough to serve 300,000 residents each year. Poseidon plans to break ground later this year and begin operating the plant in 2012. But environmentalists question the need for the plant, even in a
"We live in a desert. Why are we watering vast green lawns with expensive desalinated water?" Gonzalez said. #
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/may/12/ca-desalination-plant-051209/?california
Agency rethinking permit for Poseidon
New concerns on desalination plant
San Diego
By Michael Burge, staff writer
DETAILS
Desalination plant permit hearing
What:
When: 9 a.m. tomorrow
Where:
CARLSBAD — Just as the developer of an ocean-water desalination plant proposed for Carlsbad's coast thought it was about to get its final permit, the California Coastal Commission staff says it wants to reconsider a permit it issued previously.
Poseidon Resources proposes building a plant that would turn 50 million gallons of ocean water a day into drinking water. It would be built on the grounds of the Encina Power Station, at
The company will go before the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board tomorrow for final approval on a plan to make up for the number of fish and other organisms that its desalination process would kill.
The proposal calls for the company to develop 55 acres of new wetlands and assure that they produce 3,774 pounds of new marine life a year to replace the marine life that would be killed.
However, Peter Douglas, executive director of the state Coastal Commission, wrote the water quality board last week saying information Poseidon provided that panel was inconsistent with information it provided the commission last year, and it wants to review Poseidon's permit.
At issue is the speed at which water will be drawn into the plant.
Douglas said in his letter that depending on how fast the water is actually moving, it could mean nearly 10,000 pounds of marine life would be killed each year, almost three times as many as Poseidon has calculated.
“It's a question, did they make a mathematical error or was it intentionally misrepresented?”
If the fish-kill calculation increases,
Poseidon criticized the Coastal Commission's conclusion, saying the intake stream's velocity has not changed, and there's no need to revise the permit.
“Their calculation of our flow . . . is inaccurate,” Poseidon's spokesman Scott Maloni said.
Maloni said Poseidon has participated in 14 public hearings at various regulatory agencies over six years, and “the Coastal Commission has sent an objection letter before every one of those hearings.”
The commission voted to give Poseidon a conditional permit in November 2007, despite a staff recommendation against doing so. #
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