TimesOC: Water board’s decision on proposed $1.4B Poseidon desalination plant pending
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Good morning and welcome to the TimesOC newsletter.
It’s Wednesday, April 28. I’m Carol Cormaci, bringing you the latest roundup of Orange County news and events.
A series of virtual meetings held by the Santa Ana Regional Water Board on the $1.4-billion desalination plant in Huntington Beach championed by Gov. Gavin Newsom began Friday and is expected to continue Thursday, with a third meeting, if necessary, to be held May 13.
The water board is charged with deciding whether or not to permit the Poseidon project. According to my colleague Matt Szabo, who covered Friday’s all-day meeting, there are some well-known names besides Newsom who want to see the desalination operation get up and running sooner rather than later, including former Sen. Barbara Boxer, former Huntington Beach Mayor Shirley Dettloff (who is also a former state coastal commissioner) and sitting Huntington Beach City Councilman Mike Posey, the latter of whom said he was speaking for himself, not on behalf of the council.
Szabo points out in his reporting that a key sticking point with Poseidon is the water board’s staff recommendations issued in February that call for a host of environmental mitigations that the company says would make the project infeasible.
Included in the mitigations sought by the board are four projects within the boundaries of the Bolsa Chica Wetlands and the restoration of a 41.5-acre rocky reef off the shore of Palos Verdes.
The proposed project has generated no shortage of opinions, including words from L.A. Times columnist Steve Lopez, who writes he has watched the proposal on and off over the years and wonders if state regulators are really doing their jobs. “Poseidon saw an ocean of money, and the state has done nothing but clear the way for the company to cash in,” he says.
With prolonged droughts a concern to this arid state, many consider the desalination of ocean water to be a lifeline. It will be interesting to see how the Santa Ana Regional Water Board votes on the project in coming days or weeks. Should it grant the permit for the Huntington Beach project to Poseidon, the matter will next land in the hands of the California Coastal Commission.
NEWS
— UC Irvine Health has initiated a program to treat patients suffering from lingering symptoms after bouts with COVID-19, also known as “long hauler syndrome.”
— Students in secondary grades returned to campuses full time in Newport-Mesa Unified School District Tuesday after having been largely cooped up at home for the past year during the pandemic.
— One area Realtor calls pent-up demand for properties and a shortage of houses on the market a “bottleneck” in the coastal cities of Orange County this spring, where sales prices are skyrocketing.
— Drive-through traffic at the county’s Soka University vaccine super site came to a temporary halt Sunday after a motorist’s vehicle accelerated, then hit a tent and portable restrooms. Three people were taken to the hospital with injuries. The accident is under investigation.
— On a December night in 2016 Marylou Sarkissian brutally was murdered in her Huntington Beach home. The case against her former boyfriend, Anaheim resident Jason Becher, is playing out in court this week, with opening arguments in his murder trial having taken place Monday. Becher’s defense attorney doesn’t dispute that her client committed the murder, only that it was not premeditated and was instead prompted by a fit of rage.
— Huntington Beach police on Tuesday put out the word they are seeking information on a late model vehicle similar to a Chevy Tahoe or Cadillac Escalade that was involved in a hit-and-run incident on Jan. 24 that took the life of 29-year-old Jacob Conroy.
SPORTS
— Angels rookie Chris Rodriguez, 22, earned his first win Sunday after stranding two runners in the seventh, a half-inning before the Angels took the lead in an eventual 4-2 victory over the Houston Astros. On Monday, Angels starting pitcher Shohei Ohtani got off to a rough start against the Texas Rangers but, after scoring a run himself came back to the mound feeling renewed, he said, and went on to silence the Rangers. The Angels won that game 9-4.
— The Ducks fell to the Los Angeles Kings 4-1 on the ice Monday night, giving the Anaheim team its fifth straight loss. The Ducks are now 14-28-7 while the Kings are 18-22-6. The teams meet again tonight at Staples Center.
— First-year coach Jesse Mercado says he has high hopes for this year’s Costa Mesa High School boys’ basketball team. Last Thursday, Costa Mesa routed defending league champion and crosstown rival Estancia 93-60 at home in Mercado’s first Battle for the Bell game.
LIFE & LEISURE
— After 55 years as a theater reviewer for the Daily Pilot and TimesOC publications, writer, actor and director Tom Titus pens his last column.
— Santa Ana writer Gustavo Hernandez, a native of Mexico, has recently seen published his debut collection of poems, “Flower Grand First,”. The collection, according to our colleague Vera Castaneda, “serves as an elegy to his dad, his homeland and past versions of himself as he comes to terms with his sexuality and masculinity.”
— As we’ve previously noted, Disneyland reopens Friday and Knott’s Berry Farm welcomes visitors back on May 6. If you’d like to explore beyond our county’s boundaries, check out the California reopening calendar put together by our colleagues, travel writers Christopher Reynolds and Mary Forgione.
— The 73rd annual Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race, which drew roughly 170 entrants, got underway Friday, and its trophies were handed out Sunday. To learn which skippers triumphed, visit the Newport Ocean Sailing Assn.’s website, nosa.org.
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