
Clockwise: Medrano, Alvarado, Daly, Brandman, Newsom, Boxer, Umberg, Murray.
I don’t like having to write stories like this. It’s miserable. But some blogger has to tell the truth.
There are some issues where informed, honest folks can have a difference of opinion. But by now, the Poseidon boondoggle shouldn’t be one of them. The facts have been out there, and plain to see, for way too long: Number one, the project is TOTALLY UNNECESSARY, which makes it inexcusable that it’ll raise our water rates considerably while receiving taxpayer subsidies, and damage our environment in several big ways, all for the profits of Poseidon’s owner, the the giant global private equity firm Brookfield Investments. Add to which, Poseidon Resources itself is the most dishonest bad actor that Orange County could ever have the bad judgment to deal with.
Anyone who supports the proposed Poseidon desal plant at this point is either ignorant and misinformed, or willfully dishonest and corrupt … and I don’t think politicians and policy makers who have been immersed in the issue for years could be ignorant or misinformed. And every one of these latter characters has received money from Poseidon. There’s a phrase for that, which is also the title of this piece.
As a Democrat, I’m especially disgusted to see so many politicians of my own party sell themselves as Poseidon whores. I kind of expect Republicans to be the unprincipled slaves of big money, no offense, and I make sure to compliment the ones that aren’t, but those are rare – Tom Tait, Dave Sullivan, Bruce Whitaker – and most of them are out of power now. Even the celebrated bean-counter Moorlach never took the time to look at Poseidon critically. But I’m saying, we expect that dishonest solicitude to big money from Republicans; it’s tragic to see it taking over more than half of the alleged Party of the People.
At Friday’s 12-hour long meeting of the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board (SARWQCB) plenty of Poseidon opponents showed up to speak, which they did passionately and eloquently with facts and logic. Poseidon’s advocates had equal or more time, and addressed NONE of these facts, instead repeating mindless propaganda about how badly we all need water, water, water. And also, have you heard about:
“The Human Right to” Desal?
Early on in the meeting, OC Labor Fed chief Gloria Alvarado, the ultimate OC Democratic insider, spat out a stinging diatribe about how central county Latinos such as herself need water, desperately need water to cling to life, and how it was being DENIED to her and her compadres by selfish, spoiled, white “coastal elites,” privileged enough to be able to fight the desal plant because they “don’t want it in their backyard.”
Except Gloria didn’t identify herself as a Labor Chief and Party Insider, a charter member of the labor movement that’s been pushing Poseidon for two decades because of the temporary union construction jobs it would provide. Instead she claimed to be part of some new grassroots civil rights organization, named “Water is a Right.”
I wrote about this phenomenon five years ago when Poseidon first purchased the OC branches of LULAC – the hedge fund’s local vendidos y vendidas now proclaim that this desal water is a human right unique to working-class Latinos, and anyone who fights the boondoggle is essentially trying to make the brown folks of Santa Ana and Anaheim die of thirst.
IT IS ORWELLIAN AS FUCK. What hurts working-class people of all races is OVERPRICED WATER, HIGH WATER BILLS. And these Poseidon whores are conspiring to make them HIGHER. (Have I mentioned that Orange County actually doesn’t get ANY NEW WATER out of this raw deal, we just have to pay more?) Pissed off, as many folks were, at being labeled “Coastal Elites,” I began my retort (8 hours later) with these words:
“Hello Board, I’m from Anaheim. From the Anna Drive barrio of Anaheim. I’m not part of any “Coastal Elite,” as a certain LaborFed chief masquerading as a ‘human rights activist’ put it earlier. My neighbors are working-class Mexican-Americans. My wife is a working-class Mexican-American. We have a right to AFFORDABLE water, and to clean beaches and air. This whole new phony “human right to desal” nonsense these people are pushing is pure, Poseidon-funded ASTROTURF.”
The term “Astroturf,” in case you didn’t know, refers to FAKE GRASS ROOTS GROUPS, funded by special interests. And this new “Water is a Right” is classic Astoturf. As it turns out there IS a worldwide movement, including the UN and Unicef, aimed at making access to healthy drinking water a human right – but that is focused mainly on third-world countries where drinking water is really unavailable, and where it’s often privatized by profiteers (LIKE Poseidon!) This Poseidon-funded group cynically latches onto that movement for the sole purpose of pushing this particular desal boondoggle. Look at their new and half-assed website – heart-tugging photos of people needing water, and when you click on “take action” the only option is to send a letter in support of … Poseidon’s desal boondoggle!

Medrano, Zeke Hernandez – so thirsty!
OC Business Trades Chieftains Ernesto Medrano and LuisAndres Perez (both fresh from shilling for Anaheim’s Angels Stadium Giveaway) presented themselves Friday as members of “Water is a Right”, as did LULAC leader Zeke Hernandez (the enemy of Anaheim’s district elections.) Luis, in place of his one-minute comment, played a one-minute video from the group, which was one of the dumbest things we ever saw, in which Ernesto, Zeke, and a few other Latinos I couldn’t identify (looked like wives and kids) took turns telling us how much they like and need water, and how “THEY don’t care about US!” (“They” being us “coastal elites” who oppose the boondoggle.) Ernesto looked especially indignant when he growled at the camera, “OUR JOBS aren’t important to THEM!” Don’t believe me? Well, the cruelest thing I could do now is to show you the video:
(That fair-skinned “farmer” in the sombrero in front of the fake farm backdrop really takes the cake, doesn’t he?)
There ARE actual grassroots Latino/minority organizations that are addressing Poseidon, and they did a bang-up job Friday, speaking in OPPOSITION. There was Azul, a “grassroots organization of Latinos” founded in 2011 “to conserve marine resources” – they’ve gotten real into this struggle along with members of Oak View Comunidad, Huntington Beach’s largest and most organized barrio. (Hey Gloria, are these your “coastal elites?”) There was the Sunrise Foundation, a group of minority youth featuring Anaheim’s very articulate young Alejandro Sobrera, and a coalition of Native American tribes who were pissed that they only got 15 minutes to speak. I’ll let them speak for themselves here – this is what informed Latinos and Latinas really sound like:
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For your consideration: One more Poseidon buzzword.
“Infeasible?” Infeasible is a word that we heard a lot at Friday’s meeting. Let’s back up and fill you in.
The official topics for Friday’s Board meeting were twofold: First, celebrate this Orwellian new Human Right to Desal calling itself a Human Right to Water, but more substantively, to discuss what environmental MITIGATION Poseidon would be asked to perform in the surrounding area to balance off the substantial environmental DAMAGE it would cause if it went through.

Dead zone.
First of all, it’s completely messed up that this convoluted BS is even on the table – “We’ll let you pump greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, slaughter countless marine life in your intake pipes, and create a dead zone of brine, if you just help dredge the Bolsa Chica Wetlands, rebuild a reef up off Palos Verdes, and buy a bunch of carbon credits” – why can’t our supposed adults in charge simply say no?
But since the damage the plant will create is so extensive, the “mitigation” our government scientists calculate the company would have to do to make up for it is also extensive, and expensive, and Poseidon bitches about it endlessly but promises glumly to do it.
BUT our government scientists, wisely, don’t trust Poseidon as far as they can be thrown, on account of their record of broken promises in OC, and their bad record elsewhere (notably Carlsbad.) So they have recommended that this board, the SARWQCB, insist on a “DISCHARGE PROHIBITION,” which means the plant wouldn’t be able to begin operation until the required mitigation is underway.
And this DISCHARGE PROHIBITION makes Poseidon (and its obedient shills) squeal like stuck pigs! (Dramatization at right.) Think about that. They say they’ll do the mitigation, but the fact they’ll actually be forced to do it is somehow a HUGE PROBLEM. It causes them to bawl out two threats, which seem contradictory:
- They’re gonna just have to pass on the costs of any mitigation they’re forced to do, to us OC ratepayers, making our prices EVEN HIGHER; and
- This mitigation, if it’s actually FORCED on them by a discharge prohibition, will also make the project “INFEASIBLE,” one of Poseidon’s favorite words, by which they mean, it would eat into their PROFITS.
Think about THAT as well: We are supposed to care, our government watchdogs are supposed to care, about Poseidon/Brookfield’s profits more than we care about our air and ocean. I remember them using that word “INFEASIBLE” eight years ago when we tried to get them to use SUBSURFACE INTAKES to reduce the marine life slaughter, and various other improvements that would have made their project a little less damaging. INFEASIBLE? Who cares? That means the project doesn’t pencil out, after all these years. That means GO AWAY AND DON’T FUCKING DO IT.
After hearing both sides’ presentations and comments last Friday (the 23rd) the Board will apparently be voting this Thursday (the 29th) and the best thing they could do is just to deny the project altogether. That would be a surprise. The next best and most responsible thing would be to follow the staff’s recommendation and insist on the DISCHARGE PROHIBITION, infeasible or not.
But look at the time! Let’s get back to our main theme:
More Poseidon Whores.
When I list and lambaste certain Poseidon Whores, by which we mean intelligent, powerful folks who passionately and dishonestly advocate for the project while ignoring all facts, and who have also received plenty of money from the company throughout their careers, why do I focus almost exclusively on Democrats? Well, as I said earlier, I am a Democrat, so my expectations of Democrats are higher. But there’s also all this:
- Democrats are SUPPOSED to care about the ENVIRONMENT.
- Democrats are SUPPOSED to care about the little guy, the working class, and not letting them get ripped off even further by big corporate interests.
- And in this Dark Age of Trump and QAnon, Democrats are SUPPOSED to respect FACTS and SCIENCE.
And when all of those Democratic ideals are betrayed, in the service of campaign loot, temporary union jobs, and ambition, who can blame the public for asking why bother voting Democrat? Do you see what I’m saying?
Take “The Two Toms,” Assemblyman Daly and State Senator Umberg, the two OC Democrats who vote most like Republicans (and who are also arguably the Two Whitest Men in the County.) They each sent obedient emissaries to the meeting to dutifully urge the Board to not only approve Poseidon’s permit but also please “don’t impose any mitigation or discharge prohibition that will make their project INFEASIBLE.” Many Republican politicians said the same exact thing, but it felt most like a gut punch when Democrats did.
Daly was the more distressing, because we know he’s not stupid and can spot a swindle when he wants to – as witness his fierce criticism of the Angels Stadium Giveaway. I heard Umberg, on the other hand, on a Zoom call last fall, saying the Stadium deal was just swell, and seeming puzzled about all the outrage. But I know he’s not stupid either. It’s unclear and confusing just when and why these politicians are allowed to use their brains and consciences… but it seems to be geared around when they’re not gonna muck things up for the special interests.

Brandman’s April 2021 look.
The cesspool of Anaheim corruption makes a good segue here, as we discuss the increasingly deranged Councilman and OCWD board member Jordan Brandman. They say “Elections Have Consequences,” and one consequence of last November’s Big Disney Sweep in the Council elections was keeping this longtime Poseidon backer on the water board, not something most Anaheim voters were probably considering. Jordan’s received campaign cash directly and indirectly from Poseidon for his entire political career, and he is loyally paying them back now.
Still, his speech Friday was a little … eccentric. It was like someone dared him to give a speech with the word “compliant” in every sentence. “I want to talk about a word I love, compliance,” he began, and went on to tell us how “compliant” Poseidon always is, and how much his city of Anaheim loves “compliance.” Not true, but weird.
Another former Anaheim politician renowned for corporatist subservience and Poseidon donations (and the only Republican I’ll be picking on) is Kris Murray, who is actually on the SARWQCB itself. Our stomachs collectively sunk a couple years ago when the Governor, at the urging of local labor, put her onto this Board. “She is just there to grease the wheels for Poseidon,” we all said, but she swore up and down she did not have her mind made up and would be objective. Yeah, right.
She spent most of the Friday meeting basically attacking her own Board and staff for being too rough and unfair with Poseidon, even suggesting that they could be sued for requiring more mitigation from them than they had ever done with any other project. She had to be reminded by colleagues and commenters that no project this BIG and DESTRUCTIVE had ever come before the Board before, so DUH. Not that anyone could stop her threats, on behalf of Poseidon, to her colleagues and staff.
Perhaps most grotesque is the case of former Senator Barbara Boxer, who, after decades of being a pretty good Senator especially on environmental issues, leapt directly into a career as a literal Poseidon lobbyist. ON THEIR PAYROLL. So that innocent people can look, and point, and say to each other, “How bad could this be, if Barbara Boxer supports it?” The LA Times kindly printed a letter of mine when this first transpired. She was there in all her smooth glory Friday, warning about SUPER-DROUGHTS and talking about how wonderful Poseidon’s mitigations would be. I can’t even look at her any more when she comes on MSNBC to opine on the Senate. I grumble, “Poseidon whore!” and change the channel.

Some men look at what should never happen,
and say “Why not?”
Then there’s the case of the goddamned Governor, Gavin Newsom. Writers across the state have documented the corruption of his Poseidon-pushing; enjoying their campaign contributions, attending their lobbyist’s birthday party at the French Laundry, and in return removing Board and Commission members who are critical of the project and replacing them with non-scientists who look like they can be counted on to toe the labor line.
Newsom, as you may have heard, is facing a recall, a recall for bullshit reasons, organized by a bunch of assholes. But it’s hard for a lot of us Democrats to feel like getting up out of our chairs to defend him when he treats our County like a trash can. Governor, you need FRIENDS down here right now. And WE NEED SOME GOOD NEW COASTAL COMMISSIONERS WHO ACTUALLY CARE ABOUT PROTECTING THE COAST, not about short-term jobs and campaign cash.
FINALLY:
Two Board Members to Watch Tomorrow (Thursday 29)
and to contact today! (Wednesday)
Some of these SARWQCB folks seem more honest than others, but it’s hard to keep most of them accountable to the public, as they are appointed not elected. But this is not the case with two of them, who could maybe be urged into doing the right thing.
One Board member is the Tustin Mayor, Democrat Letitia Clark. Throughout the meeting she seemed concerned with the (true) fact that Poseidon’s expensive water would raise rates for everybody, hurting mostly Orange County’s poor. It’s unclear if she realizes that the project really doesn’t have to happen at all. First she learned that the water vendors HAVE to charge the same rate to everybody. Then she started puzzling over whether some kind of government subsidy could be arranged to help lower-income folks pay their Poseidon-jacked-up bills. I realize that came from a good place in her heart, but that’s still the kind of thing that makes me grumble, “Privatize the profit, socialize the cost.”
THEN she asked a Poseidon spokesman if THEY might be willing to contribute to such a fund. The spokesman politely responded that such a thing had never been discussed or contemplated, but he would look into it. And at that moment uproarious laughter erupted in northeastern corporate board rooms, behind muted mics.
Mayor Clark, there’s only one way to protect the working-class people you clearly care about: Deny the project! (Or at least make it “infeasible” with your staff-recommended “discharge prohibition!”)
714-417-3513; lclarkgeorge@gmail.com
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Then there’s Joe Kerr, the retired firefighter who was probably put on the Board as a reliable union vote for Poseidon. But it’s possible that Joe is a good, honest, intelligent guy, and he IS planning to run for Supervisor District 5 (south County) next year. A tough vote on Poseidon tomorrow would show his independence, and that he cares more about the environment and working-class folks’ water bills than he does about short-term jobs and corporate profits. (And it would go a long way toward making us forget about the 2018 residence confusion.) SURPRISE US, JOE!
714-746-9045
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Update 4/30
Mostly a Victory for the Whores
Yesterday Poseidon got NEARLY everything it wanted from the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board. Poseidon VP Scott Maloni was right up there with this “regulatory board” as though he were a member, making his demands and comments, with no other outside voices allowed. Only Board member Daniel Selmi seemed to find this objectionable. At one point Selmi said, “It’s not Poseidon’s job to MITIGATE. Their job is to make profits for their shareholders. It’s OUR job to MAKE them mitigate. WE are the REGULATORS.” To one degree or another, none of the other Board members seemed to grasp that.

Maloni – used to getting his way.
The three options under consideration (there was NO suggestion of OUR preferred option of just denying the permit) were: 1) the stricter one the Board’s own staff preferred that FORCED Poseidon to mitigate its environmental damage; 2) a COMPROMISE proposal the Board had created to make Poseidon happy (which barely won); and 3) a really loosey goosey one that Poseidon wrote themselves, which 3 out of 7 Board members voted for.
Poseidon’s proposal was lacking some crucial legal language, so staff had to touch it up for them. (The Board’s attorney cracked that it was because “it was written by people who don’t write permits, while the others were written by people who do write permits,” earning a scolding from the Board’s Poseidon attack dog Kris Murray for his insolence.) Of course Kris, as expected, voted and passionately advocated for the permit Poseidon wrote for themselves; the depressing thing is that she was backed up by Tustin Mayor Letitia Clark and Joe Kerr, who is running for District 5 Supervisor next year. We need to remember this in 2022.
This was bad, and was nearly much worse. Coastkeeper says they will appeal this decision, and they have a good record in Court. Next stop, the Coastal Commission in a few months; and we need to demand Governor Newsom appoint some Coastal Commissioners that care about our protecting ocean rather than short-term union jobs. Also in the works: Have the city council of Santa Ana discuss this boondoggle and instruct their OCWD rep Nelida Mendoza to oppose the project. And write more songs, and some resolutions.
Update 5/3
Kris Murray was placed on the “regulatory” Board near the end of Jerry Brown’s tenure, at the insistence of the Building Trades and probably Poseidon themselves, to be a dependable vote for the project. We’ve known Kris for over a decade, and her guiding principle is the upward transfer of wealth from the public to her friends. There’s not a morning that she doesn’t wake up and think how best to achieve that.
Letitia Clark and Joe Kerr are the newest members, placed on the Board by Newsom – one into a vacancy and the other in place of the fine, informed Poseidon critic William von Blasingame whom Newsom had removed. Their apparent purpose there is to have Murray’s back in shoving through Poseidon as easily as possible. Clark asked a few questions showing concern for the impact of prices on OC’s poor, but behaved as though the project was inevitable. Kerr barely spoke at all, except for a few procedural questions, but was always there to back up Kris Murray.
No coincidence that it was these three (along with Board chairwoman Lana Peterson) who probably shouldn’t have participated in the hearing at all due to conflicts documented by the OC Register and Coastkeeper – Clark for recent contributions from several Poseidon-backing Labor unions, and the other three for receiving improper ex-parte communications from Newsom’s EPA Secretary Jared Blumenthal emphasizing how IMPORTANT this vote was to Gavin – in the middle of a previous hearing! Read Coastkeeper’s damning letter here.
Very disappointing for a couple of OC’s prominent Democrats – the Tustin mayor (Clark) and the standard bearer for South County Supervisor next year (Kerr.) Is it so quaint to imagine a Board whose mission is to protect our water and environment, not to take orders from the corporations it’s supposed to regulate?
I understand a lot of people are mad at me for the strong language used in this story. Well, for these three Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board members, would “saboteurs” be a better word?
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)
- Indigenous People’s Day and Tuesday’s Desal Townhall: Poseidon as Columbus. (October 2019)
- Transformation Complete: OC Water District now “Poseidon Water District of OC.” (Dec. 2019)
- Poseidon’s “Reliability” Promise: Pay More, Get the Same! (July 2020)
- Karl Seckel for MWDOC! (Nov. 2020)
- Elect 2020’s Water Patriots: Elliot, Moulton-Patterson, Seckel, Yoo Schneider, Beard & Ereth! (Nov. 2020)
- Poseidon’s Latest Corporate Welfare Demand (Jan. 2021)
- Why OCWD pays CalDesal $5000 a Year, and a Very Good Brown Act Question. (Jan. 2021)
- Gov. Newsom: Stop Shoving Poseidon Down OC’s Throat! (April 2021)
Paying triple for the same amount of water is a human right. Wow.
I’m not surprised that Kris Murray still can’t do math. That’s a given. But the rest of them . . .
It’s not hard people. $3 > $1.
This is a stupid project supported by stupid reasons for the sake of making a quick buck. Bribe a few decision makers, get the take-or-pay contract, then flip the whole project for a cool $2,000,000,000 as soon as construction is complete.
50 years of higher bills with absolutely nothing to show for it, all while rate payers in Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Mexico, and Imperial Valley CA laugh their ass off because rich OC gave up their rights to cheaper water.
*Another erudite comment by the GREAT one….in his own mind! How many million people should California have in order to do Desalination Projects? Some people think out of the box and others continue to take the back pocket cash. Hey, everyone has a choice…..RC has made his.
Once again, this is about the contract. One day, maybe, you’ll take a moment and actually read it.
No new net water, higher bills. The number of people in SoCal has no relevance to the issue at hand.
For the fiftieth time, you’re being totally ridiculous. Please stop and actually attempt to understand what we’re discussing.
*Concept vs Detail. You may not like the deal that Poseidon has offered up or that the City Council and others has determined that in the long term interest of their constituents……that having a Desal Plan is far better than having none. Hey, get on down their and fight like heck for what you believe in, but do not sit on the outside nay saying. As our friend always said: “Try telling somebody that can do you some good!” For the record, our position is simply that WE NEED a quality Water Supply to back up any current formula. Right now, most people can’t brush their teeth without using Distilled water. Most people use Shower Filtration to both Shower and Rinse their laundry clothes. Not only costly but inconvenient and some might say a waste of valuable TIME! The same goes for Old-PCB plastic water lines, Lead and Copper lines using risky welding materials. Say that this is micro-managing if you will…….but those of us that care about the environment are looking for those precious infrastructure upgrades that the Biden Administration is supporting. Put it into perspective. Remember Leaded Gas? How about the effects of MTBE? The list of heavy metals in our ground water, wells and Salt Water Barrier flushes are immense. Ah,
but as you say….Poseidon as a sweet deal that needs oversight which of course we would support if done without fracturing the deal.
Why are you telling Ryan that? He’s in Georgia, duh. The rest of us ARE fighting like hell.
There are obvious answers to that question.
*”Georgia?” Bob Barr country……really? So, what Dog does RC have in this discussion? Hopefully, he doesn’t work for the University of Georgia and our beloved “Bulldogs”? Macon – Bacon…….Clock on the lawn and all. Probably, RC is best seen on Peachtree…..hanging out with a Laite..in hand. Ah, we still love Ray Charles rendition of “Georgia on my mind”.
Whatever happened to Southern hospitality? “Sherman through Georgia”
must have had some lasting effects. As Scarlett said in “Gone with the Wind” – “I’ll think about it …..tomorrow!”
Nicely done Vern. I’d love to see a weekly segment, “The Whores of OC.” Unfortunately, we got what we ignorantly voted for. The bad drives out the good over and over again.
Debbie, the very very sad thing is that this is a consequence of voting for a Democrat Gavin Newsom, who appoints the members of this Board and who needlessly and heinously removed an extremely informed member, William von Blasingame, from it — because he WvB opposes Poseidon.
Newsom doesn’t lose many Democratic votes by screwing over Orange County, given our conservative reputation. Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Boxer want Southern California to come up with its own water sources rather than taking so much from Northern California — and he listens to them. (They have a point, and we should consider environmentally and economically responsible approaches to desalinization, rather than ones simply designed to make rich investors even richer. They will probably be more small-scale and dispersed — and built by consortia of public governments rather than by rapacious donors.)
I understand Democrats not liking OC. If I didn’t have roots here, then out of ignorance I might too. But OC has more decent people than awful ones — most of them on the poorer side — and those decent people are the ones who can’t take the hit that wealthier residents can better survive. Newsom is screwing over a lot of poor people here — and it is shameful. His selfishness in discouraging other Democrats in this race is, at this point likely to give us a Republican Governor. Selfish, selfish jerk.
*For those who are truly naive and want to know how government works….it goes something like this: At the City Council Level…….Members are paid off by Developers and Real Estate folks. When they move to the Board of Supervisors level…..they are paid off by both Real Estate Developers and Speculators. When get to the State Assembly or State Senate they are quickly approached by Lobbyists and Pay for hire Sponsors…who generate Legislation they want pushed through. Special Interest pervades almost every level. If you want to know about State Government get the list of Agencies and Boards that run every State. These folks have been compromised many times from their rise to prominence. They have the photos, the evidence and the entire history of dirt which could create a lost job in no time. We could name names, but why?
The Dirty folks will claim that this is just cynical tripe. The smart folks will nod and not say much. The harsh realities begin with a phone call right after the winner is selected. If you say yes to the cash…..you will be permitted a limited tour based upon how often you are responsive to further requests and further (so-called) Campaign contributions.
It is a very dirty business folks, but someone has to do it.
*Um, whatever.
Our job here is to fight evil and corruption.
Sigh. “Job” suggests that we’re compensated in something other than endless anguish.
Now that we know about the 25,000 DDT barrels on the ocean floor along the coast where Poseidon will suck in water—TO DRINK, maybe it is time to re-think, or, at least, get the word out. We had trouble with OC recycled water (which actually did quite well), what will we think of incredibly expensive DDT poison water that we will have to buy? Would any of the political parties give this to their kids?
Calling women “whores” ain’t cool Nelson. Not by any stretch. Does that mean you’d make a move on them if they gave you a ride home? Asking for Lorri Galloway. And I already screen grabbed this.
Ugh, what’s that smell?
Driving women into prostitution because they can’t afford utility bills after investors from another state paid off politicians to raise ratepayers rates and funnel the money to investors is worse. And for you — after encouraging and allowing years’ worth of comments on your blog defaming people over sexual issues and sexual identity issues, among others — to come here and tut-tut over use of the word “whore” for someone who sells their services to others for immoral ends is rich.
I’d like to know what word *you* would use for people who do that. (I’d probably call them “prostituting,” which I prefer because it’s more clinical and less juicy. But the behavior is the same.)
I’d also like to know why you apparently think that calling *men* whores is OK, as you’ve limited your critique to Vern’s applying it to women.
I’d also like to know, since you’ve changed the subject to an old charge against Vern that never led to any adjudication, what YOU think about the Poseidon project and why — if you ain’t too skeered to say.
(I’d also like to know why you never spoke out against Five Points ally Melahat when she ran for CDP office — given that you endorsed Rusty Hicks — but I expect that I already do know: moral cowardice. But that too would be changing the subject from the ravishing of ratepayers, about which you’re silent.)
Chemical Lewinsky has no knowledge about or opinion of Poseidon; no doubt Larry Agran hasn’t told him what to think about it, and he doesn’t want to offend any of his “Democrat” “friends” who support it. And he probably doesn’t think an unnecessary $1.5 billion plant that’ll raise everybody’s water rates (including in Irvine) while despoiling the environment in at least three big ways, all for the corporate profits of a global hedge fund, is any big thing that he should know about. Which is inexcusable as he lives in the the Irvine Ranch Water District, which includes some of Poseidon’s smartest opponents, who just keep getting re-elected.
When a boondoggle like this just keeps persisting, and seducing Democrats and Republicans to its cause, STRONG LANGUAGE IS CALLED FOR. No apologies. As I wrote, “SOME blogger has to tell the truth.”
Duh. Business Democrat. Like Jordan Brandman and Football Brandman. And Lou Correa and Tom Daly and Umberg and the rest of the acceptable to the Kleptocracy Dems.
Is saying you’re going to rip a woman’s breast off cool? Asking for Lorri Galloway who probably wants to keep hers when you and Brandman are around.
Dan has finally waded in to the Poseidon debate, if anyone wants to see. It’s very predictable, he thinks we need desal, and he wants to use the crooks at Poseidon (which would be the last company I’d go to if I really thought we needed desal.)
His blog is having serious technical issues right now, which is good; and I would respond in a devastating way to the Poseidon piece which he obviously worked harder on than he usually does … but I don’t want to be getting him more readers.
Oh and Pink Toad.
Let me guess: Nothing on the contract in the entire post.
I will never understand why so many people want to give cheap, clean, and plentiful CO River water away to the Imperial Valley, Arizona, and Mexico.
“Here’s this cow I own free and clear. Go ahead and charge me for the exact same milk for the next fifty years.”
No farmer on the planet would tell you that you just secured a drought proof milk supply. They’d properly label you an idiot.
https://www.npr.org/2021/07/13/1013446314/amid-a-mega-drought-a-water-shortage-will-be-declared-along-the-colorado-river
Hey, it worked for the Disney & Friends parking structure….
@GA, that’s entirely my point. No impact to Socal, because Socal paid for the rights a long time ago.
Posideon’s contract with MWD surrenders those rights, which benefits those with mandatory reductions that kick in first.
Short version: No real benefit to any user served by OCMWD, higher cost for OCMWD, more import water available for AZ, Imperial, and Mexico at a lower cost than desal.
“And I already screen grabbed this.”
Funny, when I screen grab something I post under my name on his site, it quickly goes away. When he posts something under his name on this site, it stays here for 80 days and counting. Good thing the poor oppressed screen grabbed it, though!
Well, I don’t really understand that screen-grabbing game anyway. Is it sort of like counting coup? “I got something up on your blog that you’d rather I didn’t, and I have proof right here”?
For me, it’s being prepared to prove that he said or did something on his blog that I suspect he might latter choose to scrub (as he’s done with most of the anonymous comments there over the years that could rise to litigation.
It’s an attorney thing; you wouldn’t understand.
And he’s just aping the same behavior here — where we rarely if even take something down — because you gotta go with your strength, even if it’s aping.
I mean I see that “got a screenshot” more with Dan and the anonymous jackals than I do with you, I’m sure you at least have a sensible reason.
Good reason: authentication of courtroom evidence and insulation against Trumpley’s spurious charges of making things up.
The Anaheim Democrat Club (sometimes known as “the conscience of the OC Democratic Party”) just unanimously passed the following resolution, penned by myself with input from AZUL:
WHEREAS the proposed Poseidon Huntington Beach desalination plant, which the Metropolitan Water District of Orange County has found unnecessary to the County’s water supply, would raise the water rates of residents throughout the Northern and Central half of the County, while demanding subsidies and providing no new net water, all for the profits of the foreign private equity firm Brookfield;
WHEREAS the unnecessary Poseidon desalination plant would result in severe greenhouse gas emissions, kill over 100 million marine life organisms per year, and create a dead zone of brine and toxic chemicals;
WHEREAS Poseidon Resources has been pushing their project with an army of lobbyists, with deception, and generous donations to politicians and regulators, and already has an abysmal record of cost overruns, pollution and broken promises from Tampa Bay to Carlsbad;
WHEREAS there are cost-effective local solutions that provide immediate drought relief and local jobs now, including expanded efficiency, storm and rainwater capture, groundwater recharge and system leak repairs;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT:
• The Anaheim Democrats Club opposes this project and calls on all politicians and policy makers Democratic and otherwise to do the same;
• And we urge the Governor and Legislature to appoint new Coastal Commissioners who will take their mission to protect and ensure equitable access to our ocean and coastline seriously, instead of protecting corporate profits and short-term construction jobs.
I need to find out more about the upcoming naming of new Coastal Commissioners before I write an article about it. But I’ve been told:
Governor Newsom actually DID recently pick a good Commissioner from the Santa Barbara area;
It’s the LEGISLATURE that will be naming four more over the coming months;
And in Orange County we are rooting for Costa Mesa Councilwoman ARLIS REYNOLDS.
Oh! One little Kris Murray detail from the April 29 meeting that I didn’t catch because I didn’t see the whole thing:
Kris was getting so upset by the end of the meeting, at not getting Poseidon ONE HUNDRED PERCENT of what they wanted, that she started downing glasses of wine, right on Zoom. Yeah, that sounds like her.
She got that from Kringle.
When five years ago LULAC’s Benny Diaz, Zeke Hernandez, and Art Montez were discovered shilling for Poseidon – pretending that expensive desalinated water was a “human right” for Latinos, that building the plant is a matter of “environmental justice,” and meanwhile with Benny concealing any payments from Poseidon (or anyone else, which eventually got him in trouble and thrown out of LULAC) I made a re-write of an Elton John song. It was Donna’s idea.
So when last month’s meeting happened and I saw the same behavior from Latino “civil rights” organzations still going on, I remembered that song … and then noticed that it had somehow disappeared off YouTube.
So today I re-did it: Benny Earning Rent.
Not sure
What are we gonna do for water?
My friends were up in the mountains said all the lakes are dry
We need the de sal plants where and how?
We’d be better off paying for distributed units, if we had to — but conservation does come first. Remember mandatory conservation? Last time … it worked!