Surfrider to fight desalination plant ruling

Opponents of the proposed Poseidon seawater desalination plant said they’ll continue to fight the project, despite a judge’s ruling this week rejecting an environmental challenge.

Orange County Superior Court Judge David C. Velasquez on Monday rejected a lawsuit the Sierra Club and the Surfrider Foundation filed against the city of Huntington Beach challenging the environmental report on the plant. The City Council approved the report in September 2005 and granted permits for the project in March.

The suit argued that the required environmental report on the $250-million desalination plant didn’t fully examine the dangers it could pose to marine life.

“The court confirmed what a majority of the City Council has been saying all along, that this project is safe for the environment,” said Chris St. Hilaire, a spokesman for plant developer Poseidon Resources.

The plant is planned for Coast Highway and Newland Street, and would turn 50 million gallons of seawater a day into drinking water. Before building the plant, the company still needs approval from the California Coastal Commission and the state Lands Commission.

Those who oppose the plant will be fighting it at every step, despite the rejection of their lawsuit.

“This was a very complicated case, and we think the judge misunderstood it and also misapplied the law, so we’re considering whether to appeal his opinion,” said Joe Geever, Southern California regional manager for the Surfrider Foundation.

Geever said his group is challenging the Southern California Regional Water Quality Control Board’s August approval of permits for the project, and it will attack from two angles at the Coastal Commission — the coastal development permit the city already granted, and a permit the commission will later consider, probably in spring 2007.

“It ain’t over till it’s over, and this one is far from over,” Geever said. “We’re in the middle innings of this game.”

Members of the Huntington Beach City Council could not be reached by the Independent’s deadline Wednesday.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

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