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from “Residents for Responsible Desalination” (R4RD):
This (above) is the Carlsbad Desalination Plant built by Poseidon and now owned by foreign investors. Their Annual Report was just published. It was bad news for Poseidon. According to Ray Hiemstra of CoastKeeper, they missed their production goal, had to pay a $1.9 million penalty, had five major violations of their water quality permit and their water cost $2,685/ac-ft which is expected to increase to $2,820/ac-ft. in 2020.
As a summary published in both OC Breeze and Voice of OC puts it:
…According to the report, Poseidon paid a penalty of almost $2 million for non-delivery of water, reaffirming concerns around affordability and reliability raised by community advocates in Orange County over the company’s proposal to build a similar desalination plant in Huntington Beach.
The report showed that water from the Carlsbad facility was far more costly than average, at a cost of $2,685 per acre foot, and is expected to increase 5 percent next year. The Authority (SDCWA) paid an astonishing total of $121 million for Poseidon’s desalinated water.
Alarmingly, the report also showed that Poseidon received five citations for violating its wastewater discharge permit at the Carlsbad plant over the last year. Desalination plants like Poseidon’s discharge extremely salty, chemical-laden brine into the sea that can harm ocean plants and animals.
Poseidon also failed to deliver enough water to meet the area’s needs during the 2018-2019 contracted period, falling short by more than 5,000 acre feet. Despite this, the report indicated that Poseidon received a ‘Management Fee’ from the Water District based on their performance and the amount of the fee has not been disclosed.
“This is more evidence that Poseidon dealt Carlsbad a bad deal with its desalination plant and is trying to repeat the corporate boondoggle in Huntington Beach,” said Ray Hiemstra, Associate Director of Programs of Orange County Coastkeeper. “Orange County and state leaders should take a hard look at this report as a cautionary tale and really consider what it would do to working families in Orange County who need affordable drinking water.”
Poseidon’s proposal for a $1 billion desalination plant in Huntington Beach is currently before the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board, who will likely issue a tentative decision in late November or early December. UCLA recently found that the Huntington Beach plant would make water less affordable for low-income households in Orange County, causing moderate to severe rate increases. A study by the Municipal Water District of Orange County found that the Poseidon’s desalination plant would be the most expensive of all water supply options for Orange County, and the most financially risky.
“All signs indicate that Poseidon’s desalination plant is a terrible idea. UCLA’s study shows it will raise water bills for Orange County families, and this report confirms that Carlsbad communities are already paying the price,” said Andrea Leon-Grossmann, Deputy Director of AZUL. “It is an injustice to ask working-class families to pay more for water, only to benefit Wall Street investors.”
Poseidon’s recent corporate behavior has also been raising questions. While the $1 billion sale of the Carlsbad plant to international investment corporation Aberdeen Standard was reported in May, the sale was left unmentioned in the SDCWA report. The terms of the sale remain unknown, raising an important question of how to reconcile the profit from the sale against the $400 million public subsidy Poseidon has applied for in Huntington Beach.
Moreover, Poseidon has been spending millions lobbying state officials and making campaign contributions, as well as hiring influential lobbyists including former Senator Barbara Boxer and Axiom Advisors, a lobbying firm with ties to Governor Newsom. Poseidon has also been linked to a front group called OCWISE.
“Orange County doesn’t need—and shouldn’t have to pay for—Poseidon’s boondoggle,” said Susan Jordan, Executive Director of California Coastal Protection Network. “Orange County should look for cleaner, cheaper and commonsense solutions like recycling water and capturing rainwater.”
For more information, please visit https://www.californiadesalfacts.org/
REMEMBER:
TOWN HALL!
Just SOME of our Previous Coverage of Poseidon:
- HB Council Respectfully Asks Coastal Commission to Shitcan Poseidon. (July 2013)
- Poseidon Runs Headlong into Infiltration Gallery (report on Nov 2013 Coastal Commission hearing)
- Poseidon’s Water Boy: Matt Harper Quietly Pushes Desal Scam Past Ratepayers. (May 2014)
- OCWD’s Sheldon Clams Up on Poseidon Vote, Flory Shakes Things Up! (June 2014)
- Who owns the OCWD, you or Poseidon? YOU DO! Remind them, tonight! (June 2014)
- Unpacking Poseidon’s Latest Propaganda Blitz with Debbie Cook. Pt 1: The CNN Puff Piece. (June 2014)
- Recent Poseidon-Probolsky Push-Poll Threatens Candidates and Misleads Voters. (Nov. 2014)
- Sheldon’s Unethical Culture Challenged by Legal Complaint (Dec. 2014)
- Poseidon & OCWD Bring their Snake-Oil Show to the Pumpers Tomorrow (Dec. 2014)
- Surfin’ Sheldon, Little Lost Dina, Righteous Flory – What You’ve Been Missing at OCWD! (Jan. 2015)
- Poseidon Update: OCWD “just sticks the tip in…” (Jan. 2015)
- Sheldon Says “Suck it Surf City!” The Poseidon Shill is also Behind our High Density Development. (Feb. 2015)
- OCWD’s Forecast for the Future: Cloudy with a Huge Chance of Error. (March 2015)
- Pat Bates Baits Us with Bogus Doomsday Drought Scenario. (March 2015)
- Swan Song for Poseidon? A Blast of Truth from Irvine’s Peer Swan. (March 2015)
- Cage Rattled Hard, OCWD Dons Fig Leaf Before Marrying Poseidon. (April 2015)
- Our Celebrated Groundwater Replenishment System Steals Poseidon’s Lunch Money. (April 2015)
- OCWD profile #1: Phil Anthony, the Quiet Skeptic. (April 2015)
- Showdown at the OCWD Corral Nears, R4RD launches Volley. (May 2015)
- The Poseidon Adventure Sails On! (May 2015)
- Dina Nguyen Stands Up Garden Grove, Skips Fascinating Poseidon Forum. (May 2015)
- Will OCWD be Shipwrecked by Mermaids? (June 2015)
- Cathy Green Falsely Carries Poseidon Water to Coastal Commission (June 2015)
- Watch Poseidon Joke over Proposed Property Tax Increase to fund their “Privately Funded” Desal Project. (July 2015)
- Bao Stands for Garden Grove Against Poseidon, the rest of Council Waffles. (July 2015)
- Phan is the Man – who Stopped this and Needs to Start it Again! (July 2015)
- OC Can Do Desal Better – Use Salt to Lock Up CO2 Emissions. (August 2015)
- San Diego Has Too Much Water – but is Paying $1 Billion for Their Poseidon Plant. (Dec. 2015)
- Poseidon Progress Report: Eight Ways to Screw the Public. (Feb. 2016)
- Why the Coastal Commission Will Approve Poseidon. (April 2016)
- Poseidon in denial over the obstacles ahead, and more… (May 2016)
- Dispatches from the Battle Against Poseidon, Summer 2016 (July 2016)
- Poseidon Plays the Race Card, LULAC Dances to their Tune. (July 2016)
- Fullerton Reaches its Day of Decision on Poseidon (Jan. 2017)
- OCWD Tonight: Replenish the Aquifer with the Winter’s Fabulous Snows! (April 2017)
- John Earl: The Ideological War Behind Poseidon. (August 2017)
- How Stoopid Does Poseidon Think This County is Anyway? (Jan. 2018)
- OCWD Blocks Study of Alternatives to Poseidon, Misleading Coastal Commission. (Feb. 2018)
- Poseidon-Obsessed OCWD will Try to Ram Billion-Dollar Desal Project Down Our Throats. (June 2018)
- Excellent Comments for Poseidon Term-Sheet Meeting: Hamilton, Everts, Moshiri, Hiemstra (June 2018)
- Climate Change could Swamp Billion-Dollar Desal Deal (June 2018)
- Top Three Reasons Poseidon’s New Term Sheet SHOULD Have Been Rejected July 18 (July 2018)
- Important Poseidon Updates – Video of Wednesday’s meeting, and who’s running for OCWD? (July 2018)
- Poseidon’s Voodoo Math; and Klepto Kris Murray named to powerful Water Board (December 2018)
- Let’s put Poseidon out of its misery this year: Latest reports from the Front Line. (February 2019)
- New OCWD Director Kelly Rowe’s ALTERNATIVE to Poseidon. (August 2019)
- Poseidon’s Failing Report Card in Carlsbad (October 2019)
*You guys are precious. Dana Point will be starting their Desal Project in the next couple of years. Meanwhile, the brilliant folks in HB think they can hold back the tide. How much Bromine and Lead do they have in the wells and MWD that people shower and shave and drink on a daily basis? Hey, we can only alert you to the dangers of a Public Water Supply. Maybe you still want to drink out of a hot rubber neoprene hose when you are washing your car…..no problem…..Paul McCartney said it best: “Live and Let Die!” It is not just the people in Flynt, Michigan or Newark, New Jersey that have water problems. We keep asking that dumb rhetorical question: “When are we going to fix the Salton Sea?” We guess when you all have to move to Aruba, because they have Desal……in 2030…..maybe this will all sink in.