Plant’s battles still not over

After spending four years attempting to secure a development permit from Huntington Beach, Poseidon still faces a number of battles in its attempt to build a desalination facility on Surf City’s shore.

Company officials must get two more state permits to build their desalination plant and secure the green light from the environmentally minded California Coastal Commission. There are also threats from neighboring Costa Mesa to block a controversial pipeline, a tax dispute with Huntington Beach and legal threats from activists angry over the Huntington Beach decision.

“It’s not even close to being over,” said an environmental activist, Topper Horack, whose group is considering a lawsuit to stop the project. “There are so many other steps they have to go through.”

With its development permit in hand, Poseidon will now seek permits from two other state agencies. The company will go before the State Water Resource Board in hopes of securing an approval to discharge leftover salt-water brine into the ocean. From there, the group will then go before the State Lands Commission to get permission to use AES’ pipelines that run from the power plant at Pacific Coast Highway and Newland Street, under the state beaches and eventually discharge several miles out into the ocean.

Company Vice President Billy Owens said his company wants to have operational permits separate from AES.

“We have a different operation and we don’t want the state management agency managing us through the power plant,” he said.

It is that relationship with AES that will likely be the focus of scrutiny when the project next heads to the Coastal Commission, said commission staffer Tom Luster.

Many are wondering how Poseidon will fare before the commission, but the company’s initial interaction with the agency proved difficult. During the Huntington Beach’s environmental review of the project, Luster sent the city a 17-page letter criticizing the analysis of AES’ relationship with Poseidon.

“We need to look at how the desal would operate both with, and without, the power plant,” Luster said during a phone interview Tuesday. “At some point we think it is reasonable to think the desal facility would be operating on its own.”

State environmentalists are becoming increasingly critical of the once-through cooling technology used by AES; the California State Lands Commission recently passed a resolution calling for a ban on the practice by 2020.

With AES gone, the 50 million gallons of brine Poseidon plans to deposit in the water would be much less diluted, Luster said.

Owens said his scientists are confident they can prove their plant’s discharge is not harmful to the environment, but he acknowledged that road ahead could be difficult.

“When you get to the Coastal Commission, the dynamics change,” he said, later adding, “The staff has consistently tried to stop industrial projects. Once we get on their home turf, it will be more difficult and arduous to work out.”

While the last battle on desalination was mostly fought over local issues, the Coastal Commission fight will be heavy on science, said Shirley Dettloff, former commission member and mayor of Huntington Beach.

“For the Coastal Commission staff, it is going to be very scientific. An uproar in the community will not be part of the decision at all,” she said.

Unlike Huntington Beach, Poseidon will not be able to offer economic benefits to build the plant, Dettloff said.

It might, however, have to make some concessions to the city of Costa Mesa if it wants to route its delivery pipeline through city streets. In November, the council voted 3-2 that it was against a plan to run the pipeline underneath the fairgrounds and a golf course.

Owens said that vote was premature and his company has been in talks with Costa Mesa officials to work out a compromise.

Several legal battles also loom. Poseidon and city officials seem destined to meet in court over the city’s utility tax on pumping water. Company officials argue they should only pay about $50,000 because they will be pushing water through its filtration system, while city officials contend the plant is actually using electricity to pump water from the ocean and should be responsible for about $850,000 to $1 million annually.

Owens said his company intends to follow whatever ruling the court hands down.

“We fully plan to follow the law,” he said.