Earth Equity News

Controversial Desalination Plant Approved by California Coastal Commission.AP, August 7, 2008. "The California Coastal Commission approved a plan Wednesday to build the… hemisphere's largest desalination plant north of San Diego -- a move aimed at relieving water shortages in the nation's most populated state. The decision came after a day-long debate over the merits of the $300 million Carlsbad project… expected to eventually produce 10% of San Diego County's water supply from ocean water. Construction… could begin next year and begin delivering drinking water in 2011... Mark Massara… of [the] Sierra Club… called the desalination project 'a giant step backward'… [and] said the [diverted] ocean water… will kill millions of fish… 'It allows the privatization of public trust water supplies… and will ultimately make San Diego water ratepayers slaves to the most expensive fresh water ever produced in the U.S.'"Coastal Commission Overrules Staff Finding on Desalination Plant's Carbon Footprint. By Terry Rodgers, San Diego Union-Tribune, August 6, 2008. "The [Carlsbad] desalination plant's intake system will trap and kill an estimated 16 million fish larvae each day and a greater number of plankton, according to a report by [California Coastal Commission] staffers. [Though none of the species killed are rare or endangered,]…adult fish would be killed each day, including Garibaldi, the state's fish… The project's environmental impact report concluded that, compared to the overall abundance of marine life in the ocean, the loss… will be insignificant... On the issue of the plant's carbon footprint, the commission overruled its staff and sided with [developer] Poseidon's proposal to offset a portion of the [plant's] greenhouse gases… Commission staffers said the plant… would add about 90,000 tons of CO2 per year. However, Poseidon intends to reduce that total by using solar… and… energy recovery devices... Poseidon argued its carbon debt should be further reduced by subtracting the amount of energy Metropolitan Water Department currently uses."