The Tenaya fire, partially greenwashed.
by John Earl, cross-posted from “Surf City Voice.”
Global warming is slowly killing Californians and endangering future generations with extreme heat, fire, and drought.
But profits look good for Poseidon Water, California’s ocean-desalination lord, backed by Brookfield, the world-wide $600 billion self-proclaimed “decarbonizing” company that invests in renewable energy, infrastructure, and real estate.
Poseidon’s faux-environmentalist-for-hire Robert Sulnick jokes with a Poseidon-friendly crowd.
Twenty years of “greenwashing,” which is defined as “the dissemination of misleading information that conceals abuse of the environment in order to present a positive public image,” and millions of dollars spent on politicians, environmentalists, legislators, and regulators has paid off, so far.
Poseidon’s $1 billion desal plant in Carlsbad is operational and its proposed $1.4 billion Huntington Beach plant recently received ocean discharge permits from the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board.
The HB proposal tentatively comes to the Coastal Commission in November or December, the final step in the regulatory process. If approved then, the Orange County Water District (OCWD) would schedule a vote to approve a contract with Poseidon or not.
On sale to highest bidder – former Senator Barbara Boxer
The two plants will each produce around 50,000 acre-feet of desalinated drinking water annually.
The projects will not reduce water imports from the State Water Project or the Colorado River—that water will go elsewhere in Southern California.
Regardless of need, San Diego County Water Authority and OCWD ratepayers, by contract, will have to buy Poseidon’s water for 30 – 35 years—at two to three times the cost of water they could have purchased from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
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)
- THE POSEIDON WHORES. (April 2021)
- Surf City Voice: Poseidon Town Through the Wormhole. (May 2021)
- Poseidon Town: The Beginning. (May 2021)
*What has to happen when Lake Mead dries up?
Permanent removal of ornamental turf, toilet to tap for every major municipality, inland brackish water recovery, urban storm water retention and recovery, and the twin tunnels up north.
Buying out lawns now with that cool billion instead of burning coal to fuel the most energy intensive way to manufacture water ever conceived will yield something stupid, like 100x more water tonnage over 30 years.
Once again, it’s a garbage contract that yields no new net water for the consumer.
ChemLew disagrees. And he has a client. Or so they say.
Yes, a client in the “fresh water industry,” which I have to admit is a great, Frank Luntz-style euphemism. (I’m sure ChemLew didn’t come up with it.)
The “fresh water industry,” I assume, spans from Nestle to Poseidon.
I’m sure he does.
Fortunately, math doesn’t really care.
One of our usual trolls that I always put in the trash – calling themselves “TonyB” probably in reference to our pal Bushala – tried to leave a comment saying that you’re even stupider than me. (Because of your ideas about water policy.)
On principle I don’t publish that person’s comments, but it is nice to see them branching out from the usual anti-Vern-and-Donna obscenities.
*We should wait for the Millennial Drought….say 100 years of no water….then we can try Desal….underfunded of course …..to be sure we are on the right track to extinction!