Poseidon sets things in a spin

Steve Homer

After seeing Poseidon’s quarter-page advertisement in last week’s

Independent it’s clear that the corporate public relations machine is

spinning up. The spin doctors are working overtime to discredit local

residents who do not go along with Poseidon Resources’ industrial

vision for our coastline.

Unfortunately, local residents do not have the means to counter

Poseidon’s PR machine with large multi-colored ads of their own.

In the ad Poseidon dismisses the Huntington Beach residents that

take issue with a desalination plant at our beach as “a small group

of misinformed individuals.” If they think we are misinformed I urge

them to inform us.

Come clean and make the agreements they have with AES public,

something they have thus far refused to do. Poseidon’s contracts with

the financially strapped AES will certainly be enough to keep that

antique power plant viable. Why? Because Poseidon needs the water to

be warmed by the AES boilers for desalination. We, the residents of

Huntington Beach, will be forced to live with that AES eyesore on our

beach for the next 30 years if this project is allowed to go forward.

They claim “Poseidon will champion a clean coast in Huntington

Beach.” It sounds very warm and fuzzy but they left out one part. As

soon as the Huntington Beach City Council approves the project,

Poseidon will sell it. They have admitted so. And they can sell it to

whom ever they choose. If it’s sold to the local water authority the

price of water will go up. Poseidon could sell it to another U.S.

company, a foreign company or even a foreign government. The public

will have no say in what happens. This is the risk of turning our

precious water into just another commodity.

Let’s look at the Poseidon Resources track record in the U.S. The

only desalination plant Poseidon has been able to get approval for is

in Tampa Bay, Fla. Since then that project was sold to the local

Tampa Bay water company.

We are getting a slick sales pitch and I don’t buy it. There is no

reason to think Poseidon Resources cares one bit about Huntington

Beach, Orange County or the state of California. They are here for

one reason only. That reason is to turn a buck and leave town. Don’t

get me wrong, I am all for corporate profits. But not if they come at

the expense of our quality of life in Huntington Beach.

* STEVE HOMER is a Huntington Beach resident. To contribute to

“Sounding Off” e-mail us at [email protected] or fax us at (714)

965-7174.