THROUGH MY EYES -- RON DAVIS

It’s funny how a little bacteria at the beach can get your attention.

Who’d of ever thought that pumping millions of gallons a day of

partially treated sewage off the coast of Huntington Beach might come

back to haunt us?

Who’d of ever thought that putting a power plant a few blocks away

from a sanitation plant and pumping gallons of warm water into the ocean

near the sewage might cause the unwanted bacteria to head toward our

shores?

A potential answer to “Who’d of ever thought” is offered by some of

the scientific minds at the Orange County Sanitary District studying the

problem.

Sanitary district scientists theorize that the bacteria haunting our

coast and causing our beach closures may be the product of a cocktail

consisting of the sewage from the sanitation plant and the warm water

generated by the AES Corp. power plant. Simple as one and one equals too

much bacteria too close to our shores.

Here’s the deal. If there is any reasonable possibility that the warm

water from the AES power plant is contributing to the problem, does it

make any sense to allow AES to increase the amount of warm water

permitted to discharge? If you suspected that you might be taking too

much of a given medication, would you increase the dosage?

That is precisely what AES proposes to do.

Officials there are seeking approval from the California Energy

Commission to almost double the power plant’s electrical output. Guess

what else could double? The warm ocean water sanitary district scientists

theorize may be causing our bacteria problem.

Given the alleged shortage of electricity, there is a substantial

chance the energy commission will sacrifice Huntington Beach for the

benefit of power users throughout the state.

Do you think the people and businesses needing electricity in Fresno,

Bakersfield or Brea give a damn about our beaches? Actually they do. If

our beaches are closed for the sake of more electricity, they, like so

many other tourists, won’t come to Huntington Beach.

Continuing beach closures translates into a lack of tourists. A lack

of tourists translates into a lack of revenue. A lack of revenue

translates into a depressed local economy. And that all translates into

lower property values.

Worse yet, a reputation for bacteria-laden beaches will take years to

overcome. Too many people remember Huntington Beach as “Tin Can Beach,”

and I don’t know how many years it might take to live down a reputation

as Outhouse Beach.

While the bacteria may not actually land on our beaches, it surely

will infect our wallets. Your wallet won’t have to go into the water to

get sick, that’ll happen even if it sits at home. And the funny thing

about the bacteria that creates this wallet disease is the infection rate

increases with our inactivity. In other words, the more inclined you are

to sit on your backside and remain uninvolved, the greater the chance

that your wallet gets infected.

Do I know for a fact that AES’ discharge of warm water is causing the

bacteria to come close to our shores? No, I don’t. But, I don’t support

pumping more warm water into the ocean in close proximity to where we

discharge sewage until we know for certain the warm water isn’t a

contributing cause, any more than I grab a gun and pull the trigger

without knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that the gun isn’t loaded.

It appears that AES’ application to almost double its power output is

on the fast track. I’m concerned the skids may be greased and the state

of California might be prepared to sacrifice the beaches, the economy and

the well-being of Huntington Beach in the name of more juice for the rest

of the state.

And without the involvement and activism of the citizens of this

community, the state will probably have more electricity, and we may have

more warm water. And what happens when you’re located where the

electricity and warm water meet? Your system suffers an incapacitating

shock!

* RON DAVIS is a private attorney who lives in Huntington Beach. He

can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].