Last month was monumental for the Carlsbad Desalination Project and the county of San Diego.
After six years in the permitting process, the project received the final green light to start construction later this year. Unanimous approval from the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board, the board's third positive action on the project in three years, brought an end to the storied project's regulatory process.
Arguably, no local infrastructure project has received more newspaper ink than the desalination plant, and rightfully so. The project, being developed by Poseidon Resources Corp., will be the first large scale desalination plant on the West Coast and the largest of its kind in the Western Hemisphere.
The desalination plant, which will turn seawater into high-quality drinking water, will provide a 50 million-gallon-per-day, drought-proof water supply for San Diego County. The three water agencies serving Carlsbad have committed to purchase water from the project to supplement existing water supplies.
“Poseidon Resources is immensely grateful to the untold number of San Diegans whose unrelenting support for the Carlsbad Desalination Project over the years has made this milestone possible,” said Poseidon Vice President Scott Maloni.
In May, opponents of the project also suffered another crippling defeat. The San Diego Superior Court issued a final ruling rejecting a lawsuit challenging the California Coastal Commission's approval of a Coastal Development Permit for the desalination project.
Opponents of seawater desalination, led by Surfrider Foundation lawyer Marco Gonzalez, have an extensive and unsuccessful history of filing legal challenges and appealing project permit approvals. Six legal challenges have been filed since 2006; four have been dismissed and two are pending before the San Diego Superior Court, the same court that dismissed the petition against the Coastal Commission.
“The court found that the Coastal Commission acted with proper authority and within its jurisdiction when it issued a permit to the project,” Maloni said. “The arguments made by project opponents have been rejected by every legal authority that has reviewed, and ultimately approved, the Carlsbad Desalination Project. We hope the Surfrider Foundation will decide to put the interests of the San Diego region first and direct its lawyer to stop his futile legal assault.”
The Regional Board's decision successfully brings to a close the project's six-year permitting process that included more than 14 public hearings and more than 70 hours of public testimony and deliberation. The Regional Board's vote to approve the Project's Flow, Impingement and Entrainment Minimization Plan completes the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit originally issued by the Regional Board in August of 2006.
The Regional Board is the state's prevailing authority on water quality regulations, and its final action confirms that the project complies with approvals previously granted by the Coastal Commission. The Regional Board's action also ensures that the project's unprecedented commitment to create 55.4 acres of new, coastal wetland habitat fully compensates for the project's minimal impingement and entrainment impacts.
“Public officials, environmental scientists, private citizens, nonprofit volunteers and legal professionals from across the ideological spectrum dedicated countless hours to examining the project. Poseidon is appreciative of the regulatory agency staff and the handful of environmental activists whose dogged input challenged us to refine the project,” Maloni said. “While we did not always see eye to eye, the rigorous and thorough scrutiny unquestionably produced a better project. As a result, California will soon boast the most technologically-advanced, energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly seawater desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere.”
In the coming weeks, Poseidon expects to announce its selection of an internationally-renowned team that will design, engineer, construct and startup the Carlsbad Desalination Project. Poseidon also will announce the selection of a financial advisor that will lead the company through the financing of the more than $300 million project.
After more than a decade working to make the desalination project a reality, Poseidon is proud to be moving forward toward the construction of the plant. The construction phase will put 2,100 San Diegans to work and provide $170 million in local economic stimulus at a time when unemployment is at a record high.
By 2012, Poseidon expects to be delivering enough water to meet the needs of 300,000 San Diego County residents.
“The Pacific Ocean will soon be an essential element of California's water supply,” Maloni said.
For more information, visit www.carlsbad-desal.com.
After six years in the permitting process, the project received the final green light to start construction later this year. Unanimous approval from the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board, the board's third positive action on the project in three years, brought an end to the storied project's regulatory process.
Arguably, no local infrastructure project has received more newspaper ink than the desalination plant, and rightfully so. The project, being developed by Poseidon Resources Corp., will be the first large scale desalination plant on the West Coast and the largest of its kind in the Western Hemisphere.
The desalination plant, which will turn seawater into high-quality drinking water, will provide a 50 million-gallon-per-day, drought-proof water supply for San Diego County. The three water agencies serving Carlsbad have committed to purchase water from the project to supplement existing water supplies.
“Poseidon Resources is immensely grateful to the untold number of San Diegans whose unrelenting support for the Carlsbad Desalination Project over the years has made this milestone possible,” said Poseidon Vice President Scott Maloni.
In May, opponents of the project also suffered another crippling defeat. The San Diego Superior Court issued a final ruling rejecting a lawsuit challenging the California Coastal Commission's approval of a Coastal Development Permit for the desalination project.
Opponents of seawater desalination, led by Surfrider Foundation lawyer Marco Gonzalez, have an extensive and unsuccessful history of filing legal challenges and appealing project permit approvals. Six legal challenges have been filed since 2006; four have been dismissed and two are pending before the San Diego Superior Court, the same court that dismissed the petition against the Coastal Commission.
“The court found that the Coastal Commission acted with proper authority and within its jurisdiction when it issued a permit to the project,” Maloni said. “The arguments made by project opponents have been rejected by every legal authority that has reviewed, and ultimately approved, the Carlsbad Desalination Project. We hope the Surfrider Foundation will decide to put the interests of the San Diego region first and direct its lawyer to stop his futile legal assault.”
The Regional Board's decision successfully brings to a close the project's six-year permitting process that included more than 14 public hearings and more than 70 hours of public testimony and deliberation. The Regional Board's vote to approve the Project's Flow, Impingement and Entrainment Minimization Plan completes the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit originally issued by the Regional Board in August of 2006.
The Regional Board is the state's prevailing authority on water quality regulations, and its final action confirms that the project complies with approvals previously granted by the Coastal Commission. The Regional Board's action also ensures that the project's unprecedented commitment to create 55.4 acres of new, coastal wetland habitat fully compensates for the project's minimal impingement and entrainment impacts.
“Public officials, environmental scientists, private citizens, nonprofit volunteers and legal professionals from across the ideological spectrum dedicated countless hours to examining the project. Poseidon is appreciative of the regulatory agency staff and the handful of environmental activists whose dogged input challenged us to refine the project,” Maloni said. “While we did not always see eye to eye, the rigorous and thorough scrutiny unquestionably produced a better project. As a result, California will soon boast the most technologically-advanced, energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly seawater desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere.”
In the coming weeks, Poseidon expects to announce its selection of an internationally-renowned team that will design, engineer, construct and startup the Carlsbad Desalination Project. Poseidon also will announce the selection of a financial advisor that will lead the company through the financing of the more than $300 million project.
After more than a decade working to make the desalination project a reality, Poseidon is proud to be moving forward toward the construction of the plant. The construction phase will put 2,100 San Diegans to work and provide $170 million in local economic stimulus at a time when unemployment is at a record high.
By 2012, Poseidon expects to be delivering enough water to meet the needs of 300,000 San Diego County residents.
“The Pacific Ocean will soon be an essential element of California's water supply,” Maloni said.
For more information, visit www.carlsbad-desal.com.