Huntington Beach OKs Desalination Plant on PCH

A controversial proposal to build what would be the largest desalination plant in the nation along the Huntington Beach coast was approved early Tuesday after months of consideration.

Poseidon Resources Corp.’s plans to build a $250-million desalination facility next to the AES power station on Pacific Coast Highway at the city’s southern edge were approved by the Huntington Beach City Council on a 4-3 vote.

The plant would produce as much as 50 million gallons of fresh water daily by tapping ocean water already pumped into the power station to cool the huge electrical facility.

The plant still must receive approvals from the California Coastal Commission, the state Regional Water Quality Control Board and the State Lands Commission.

Most of the water would be sold to as-yet-unknown buyers, although Huntington Beach has agreed to buy a modest amount -- 3.2 million gallons a day -- at a rate less than what it now pays for imported water from the Metropolitan Water District. About a third of the city’s water is imported; the rest is groundwater. The city uses about 34 million gallons a day.

“Obviously, I’m pleased with the vote regardless of the numbers,” Poseidon Senior Vice President Billy Owens said after the council voted following hours of debate. “After all of this time, we have a good relationship with the city. We’re not going to cause any problems. We just need our chance.”

The vote was a huge victory for Poseidon, a small, privately held firm based in Connecticut that has fought for two years to build a landmark desalination plant on the Southern California coast. The company’s plant in Tampa Bay, Fla. -- half the size of the one approved for Huntington Beach -- was taken over by a public water agency and has been beset by financial and technical problems.

Another Poseidon facility proposed in Carlsbad is expected to go before the City Council there in May.

The desalination proposal was vigorously opposed by some residents and environmental groups, who lamented the building of more industrial plants along the city’s tourist-heavy beaches. They also cautioned that the plant’s briny discharge could kill sea life. Other critics said the project was an improper use of a public resource -- the ocean -- for private profit.

“Frankly, it would be irresponsible of us to make our city a guinea pig for this,” said Mayor Dave Sullivan, who joined Councilwomen Jill Hardy and Debbie Cook in opposing the permits.

More than 100 people spoke at a meeting packed with four times that many spectators. Reaction was mixed, though many who spoke for the project belong to labor unions that would benefit from construction jobs.

Other supporters praised desalination as a proven technology for giving Southern California a source of fresh water other than groundwater and the Colorado River. Though the Metropolitan Water District has said water supplies are adequate through 2030, several speakers urged the city to plan ahead.

“We live in a desert, and we need all the sources of fresh water that we can develop,” said Councilwoman Cathy Green, who supported the project with council members Keith Bohr, Gil Coerper and Don Hansen.

In September, the city narrowly approved an environmental review of the plant, following a five-hour hearing at which nearly 80 residents, environmentalists and experts spoke. It was the second attempt for Poseidon, whose earlier environmental study was rejected because the council said it understated the potential effects on marine life.

Poseidon offered several incentives to the city, including building a 10-million-gallon storage tank for emergency water use; paying $2 million to the city; and providing another $1.9 million for street improvements.

One point of contention wasn’t resolved with Tuesday’s vote: The city contends the company must pay a tax on its electric use amounting to $840,000 a year; Poseidon says its share would be only $50,000 a year.

The company is banking that water prices will surge in coming years, making the high electric cost of producing its water worth the investment. It plans to sell its water for about $1,000 an acre-foot, company officials said. Groundwater from an aquifer costs about $200 an acre-foot; imported water is about $500 an acre-foot. An acre-foot is roughly the amount that two families use in a year.

Cook argued that the plant was relying on an expensive energy source -- natural gas. Future energy shortages could push prices so high, she said, that no one would buy the desalted water.

Hardy said she was opposed because most of the water would be shipped elsewhere, particularly to fuel development in southern Orange County, where 90% of water is imported.

The firm wants to build its Huntington Beach and Carlsbad plants next to power stations to use their cooling water pipes, which range from 12 to 25 feet in diameter, to draw in ocean water for their operations.

Piggy-backing on the electric plants has drawn additional opposition from environmentalists who say the facilities are outdated eyesores that kill fish, plankton and crustaceans by sucking in millions of gallons of seawater.

Environmentalists are pressuring the state to phase out all ocean cooling pipes for coastal power plants by 2020.

Times staff writer Sara Lin contributed to this report.