AES powering debate

As the City Council launches into its final environmental review of

the controversial Poseidon desalination project, the neighboring AES

power plant is beginning to loom larger over the debate.

A recent study ordered by the Public Utilities Commission found

that AES’s offshore intake pipeline is killing more marine species

than originally believed, and opponents of the desalination project

argue that allowing the construction of a water plant behind AES

might slow down efforts to require AES to use a dry cooling system

that is less intrusive to the environment.

“If we are required to put in dry cooling, it is reasonable to

assume that the Poseidon location is the only location on site where

we would be able to put in dry cooling,” AES General Manager Eric

Pendegraph said Monday night during a City Council study session.

The California Public Utilities commission approved a major

expansion of the AES power plant in 2001. Despite concerns about the

environmental impact of the expansion, the commission fast-tracked

the project through, instead calling for an environmental review by

2005.

That report now shows a higher rate of marine life mortality than

originally expected, something the City Council will have to take

into consideration Sept. 6 when it will be asked to determine whether

an environmental report on the proposed desalination plant adequately

addresses all the impacts desalination might have on Huntington

Beach.

Whether the City Council approves the report, the Sept 6. vote is

just the first step in what appears to be a three-part approval

process -- a process that several council members argue gets more

difficult each step of the way.

Connecticut-based Poseidon resources is trying to construct a

$250-million desalination plant behind the AES power plant on Newland

Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway. The desalination facility would

draw in water from the AES’s ocean intake pipeline after it has been

used for cooling at the power plant, and convert the seawater into

drinking water using a process called reverse osmosis. The

desalination plant is expected to produce about 50 million gallons of

drinking water per day, and return the remaining salt brine, diluted

with additional water from AES, into the ocean using the plant’s

outfall pipeline.

The council rejected Poseidon’s first environmental report in

December 2003, arguing that the report failed to tackle concerns

about marine life that might get trapped in the ocean intake

pipeline, increasing bacteria levels and beach closures in south

Huntington Beach. The council also ruled that Poseidon needed to more

adequately address concerns about the growth impacts of the project

and water quality.

The Huntington Beach Planning Department has determined that the

new study addresses those problems, although several activists and

environmental groups disagree. Principal planner Mary Beth Broeren

said the desalination plant won’t kill any additional marine life

because all the organisms will already be dead once they’ve gone

through the AES intake pipeline -- essentially Poseidon isn’t doing

any additional damage.

That assumption is flawed, argued Coastal Commission official Tom

Luster, who believes the desalination facility will be operating much

more frequently than the power plant, increasing the use of the

intake pipeline, therefore increasing the amount of marine life

killed per day.

In a recent letter to the city, he wrote the report “is based

largely on the assumption that the proposed project will use only

seawater that passes through the power plant condensers and will not

require any additional water beyond what is used by the power plant,”

he wrote. “This assumption is likely incorrect.”

Luster’s 15-page letter goes on to argue that the Poseidon plant

might prolong the life of the intake pipeline by keeping it in use,

even if AES is forced to switch over to cleaner standards after its

operational permit expires in 2011.

Besides AES issues, the city received dozens of concerns about the

project from local residents expressing worries about everything from

increased dust caused by the early construction to pipelines that

would potentially tear up city streets.

“Unfortunately this is an impact we see in all major projects,”

Beth Broeren said during Monday night’s meeting.

About 10 government agencies also submitted comments on the

Poseidon project.

By law, city planners must respond to every comment collected on

Poseidon, and most responses simply pointed the reader to the section

in the environmental report dealing with the concern.

It is now up to the council to ensure that those responses have

been reasonably addressed.

“I’m still looking at everything. I plan to thoroughly go through

the letters and the responses to them,” Mayor Jill Hardy said. “I

want to continue to look at the neighborhood impacts and analyze

whether or not this is good for the environment.”

Councilman Keith Bohr said he is most concerned about a proposed

pipeline needed to deliver treated water from the desalination plant

to a water distribution system. Residents in Southeast Huntington

Beach have already had to put up with the installation of a nine-foot

sewer pipeline being installed along Bushard Street by the Orange

County Sanitation Department. Several homeowners have recently filed

suit, arguing that the project has damaged their homes and caused

cracks in the foundation.

“I’m really sympathetic to concerns about them tearing up the

streets,” he said.

If the City Council does opt to approve the environmental report,

the project must still go through a conditional use permit process.

Unlike the environmental review where the council can only rule on

the adequacy of the report, the permit process gives the council

broader powers to determine whether a desalination facility is a good

fit for the community.

“You can tell the applicant that you’re aware of the impacts

because of the ... [environmental report] and you’re going to reject

their permit because you don’t want those impacts on your community,”

Broeren said.