Desalination report passes

Jenny Marder

The Planning Commission narrowly passed the environmental report for

the proposed desalination plant after six hours of debate Tuesday

night, which kept staff on overtime pay only hours after 37 city

employees received layoff notices to make up an $11 million budget gap.

Only four of the seven commissioners had a chance to speak during

the meeting. Those who did spoke at length, often delving into minute

details of the project.

Commissioner Don Stanton complained that because of the “long

filibustering” he was never allotted time to air his concerns.

The proposed Poseidon desalination plant would produce 50 million

gallons of drinking water per day by pulling from the AES power

plant’s daily seawater intake, removing salt and other components and

discharging the concentrated brine back into the ocean.

In sharp contrast to the last two meetings, which were dominated

by the project’s opponents, critics at Tuesday’s meeting only

slightly outnumbered those in favor of the plant.

“I think we have an opportunity to tap into an unlimited supply of

water,” Huntington resident Stephanie Gledhill said. “We should take

this opportunity to invest in our future.”

But critics seemed more invested in the outcome, as everyone who

spoke out against the project was met with a hearty round of

applause.

Commissioner Ron Davis had concerns about high levels of salinity

in the brine and said he felt that diluting the discharge water more

might cause less harm to marine life.

“I’m not persuaded when I look at these documents that we can’t do

something a lot better,” Davis said. “I think we can dilute product

and ensure ourselves that we’re doing less harm to the ocean.”

Billy Owens, senior vice president for development of Poseidon,

said that studies indicate that the salinity levels Poseidon is

proposing “is a reasonable amount that sea life can tolerate.”

Another concern, raised by commission chair Randy Kokal, was

whether the rise in the temperature of the water during the treatment

process would be harmful to marine life.

He also wanted to know why high levels of bacteria were found in

the intake vault of the AES plant during isolated instances.

Elaine Archibald, an environmental scientist for Poseidon, said

that the high bacteria levels were rare and “appeared to have no

impact on the ocean.”

Commissioners were also concerned about what would happen if the

AES Power Plant ever shut down.

In such a case, Poseidon would have to apply for new permits to

continue operating as an independent system, said Mary Beth Broeren,

principal planner for the city.

After a motion by Kokal to deny the report received no support,

the commission voted 4 to 3 to approve it, with Robert Dingwall, Ray

and Kokal opposed.

The commission is far from done with the topic. Several unresolved

issues were put off to be discussed at the next meeting, on July 22,

when the commission will vote on the conditional use permit and the

coastal development permit.