Poseidon plant approved

A massive desalination facility on Huntington Beach’s coastline has been approved after months of debate.

At Monday’s City Council meeting, Councilman Don Hansen joined council members Gil Coerper, Keith Bohr and Cathy Green to approve development permits for the $250-million plant. Mayor Dave Sullivan and Councilwomen Jill Hardy and Debbie Cook voted against the project.

“I’m a proud resident of southeast Huntington Beach and my neighbors are proud,” Hansen said, before voting to approve the industrial project in his own neighborhood. “I don’t feel we live in a blighted area.”

Hundreds of people, both for and against the plant, attended the meeting to weigh in on the project. Public comment stretched to about 10:45 p.m., with 97 residents registering to speak, City Clerk Joan Flynn reported. The vote took place two hours later.

Poseidon Vice President Billy Owens estimated his company spent between $6 and $7 million on the campaign to get the project approved, including the hiring of Costa Mesa public relations firm M4 Strategies and the processing of an environmental report to analyze the plant’s effects on the city.

The proposed facility, located behind the AES power plant, is said to be capable of converting seawater into 50 million gallons of drinking water per day through a process known as reverse osmosis. The salt brine would then be delivered back to the sea through the AES outfall pipeline several miles offshore.

Councilwoman Jill Hardy said she was voting against the project because the effects of the intake pipeline had never been properly studied.

“We need to know Poseidon’s effects on the ocean now,” she said.

Other council members said they believed the city was getting a good deal by supporting Poseidon, which promised to provide Huntington Beach with a series of grants and civic improvements.

Councilwoman Green said the city should accept the deal with Poseidon because the company had a lot more to offer than a public agency, which wouldn’t be required to provide the city with any tax incentives.

“We will have a desal plant here,” she said. “Whether financed by a private company or public agency, that I have no doubt about.”

What effect, if any, the desalination project has on the council members’ political aspirations remains to be seen. Four of the sitting representatives ? Mayor Dave Sullivan, Hardy, Coerper and Green ? will be up for re-election this fall.

“I’ve had people who say, ‘If you support it, I’ll recall you,’” and I’ve had people say ‘If you don’t support it, I’ll recall you,’” Coerper said. “You know what? I really don’t care.”

Council members speak

“Frankly, at this point, Poseidon has not completed a project of this magnitude and it would be irresponsible to make the city a guinea pig for this.”

? Mayor Dave Sullivan, voted against the project

“I’ve had people who say, ‘Support this and I’m going to recall you,’ and I’ve had people who say, ‘If you don’t support this, I’m going to recall you.’ You know what? I don’t care.”