The California Coastal Commission has rejected a long-standing proposal to build a $1.4 billion seawater desalination plant to turn ocean water into drinking water
This May 2, 2022, photo shows the AES Huntington Beach Energy Center in Huntington Beach, Calif. The AES facility, the proposed site of the Poseidon Huntington Beach Seawater Desalination Plant will face a critical vote by the California Coastal Commission on Thursday, May 12. The highly contested project has been debated for more than two decades. HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — — A California coastal panel on Wednesday rejected a long-standing proposal to build a $1.
Poseidon’s long-running proposal was supported by Gov. Gavin Newsom but faced ardent opposition from environmentalists who said drawing in large amounts of ocean water and releasing salty discharge back into the ocean would kill billions of tiny marine organisms that make up the base of the food chain along a large swath of the coast.
Commissioners cited those issues in following a staff recommendation and rejecting the proposal. They also cited the energy cost of running the plant and the fact that it would sit in an earthquake fault zone. Opponents carried signs reading “No Poseidon” and “Do not $ell our coast" and included a woman who wore a plankton costume and held a sign reading “I am a plankton — please do not kill me!”