Great News! The Huntington Beach seawater desalination plant passed a major regulatory hurdle and received the endorsement from the California State Lands Commission.
After four and half hours of public comment, the California State Land Commission voted to approve the Supplemental EIR and the amended land lease with Poseidon Water.
After deliberation by the committee, the recommended changes are expected to make the plant less harmful to the ocean and ensure the plant is in compliance with the California Ocean Plan. One of the recommendations is to install a 1 -millimeter wedgewire screen on an existing 14-foot diameter offshore pipeline which would stop larger ocean marine life being sucked into the intake.
To make things better,
Poseidon has pledged to give $300 thousand annually to the State to restore the wetlands, and would also like to install diffuser technology on another offshore pipeline that could lessen the salt concentration that is discharged back in to the ocean.
More importantly this project will serve as an economic engine for the region by creating nearly 3,000 jobs and generating $200 million in tax revenue and infrastructure improvements over the life of the project.
Even though this past Thursday was a great win for the City of Huntington Beach and Poseidon Water, the fight isn’t over.
Their next challenge will be the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board in the Spring of 2018. Then it will head to the California Coastal Commission.
As always, this could not be possible without the support and advocacy of our membership and for that we are always ever so grateful!
Sincerely,
Tracy Hernandez
