Poseidon desalination is a toxic swindle
On the surface, desalination sounds like a bright idea. But transforming ocean water into something safe and drinkable on a large scale takes more than a magic wand. It requires hundreds of millions of dollars, huge amounts of energy, and a place to dump the salty sludge created by the process.
The foreign-owned Poseidon company has been trying for more than 15 years to enact this pipe dream on the California coast. They now have targeted Orange County, promising to turn a highly contaminated site in Huntington Beach into a water plant. But the more of this scheme I learn about, the worse the taste it leaves in my mouth. When I saw that Governor Gavin Newsom has joined in pushing it, my stomach turned. The deal that Poseidon proposes is not potable; it’s poisonous. None of us should swallow it.
The sales pitch from Poseidon paints a pretty picture of its operations. But the reality is a declaration of war on marine ecology. Its massive intake suction destroys sea creatures essential to the coastal ecosystem by the millions. It then dumps thousands of gallons of hyper-briny dreck back into the ocean.
Their financial model treats taxpayers much the same way. Poseidon claims to be an upstanding innovator providing a needed service to customers. But the company is a shadowy offshoot of a foreign-owned conglomerate whose real genius lies in turning public money into private profit.
How telling that instead of making their case up front in open debate before water districts, county supervisors, or directly to the voters through a ballot measure, the company has furtively sought back-channel methods to siphon away extraordinary sums of taxpayer money.
In recent months, Poseidon has reportedly sought to garner more than $1 billion of taxpayer cash through the three-member California Debt Limit Allocation Commission (CDLAC). Have you ever heard of this body? Neither had I, and that’s the point. Until I read about the company’s bid for big bucks, I did not know that state Treasurer Fiona Ma could leave open such a loophole for a foreign-owned private company to grab such enormous amounts of the people’s money.
And for what? Desalination is the most expensive source of water in the world. Ratepayers in Orange County could be saddled with costs four times higher per gallon than other sources of H2O in Southern California. Sure, the investors in Poseidon could make out like bandits, but where does this Robin-Hood-in-reverse arrangement leave regular folks? Ordinary customers would spend more money out of pocket in higher bills, incur more utility debt, and face greater danger of shutoff when they can’t pay.
On top of that, any construction at the Huntington Beach site on Pacific Coast Highway would stir up contaminants so noxious that it’s listed as a state toxic hot spot, among the worst 1 percent in the nation. Who pays for the injuries and illnesses that stem from residents’ exposure to arsenic, lead, mercury, benzene, asbestos, and other dreaded compounds made airborne through dust carried inland on coastal winds? Property values in Huntington Beach could also take a hit.
Seniors like me have to keep up our guard about scams. Whether it’s phone calls, emails, or even knocks on the door, those seeking to play on our fear, our kinship with the vulnerable, or our hopes for the next generation in order to take our money can be clever in their grifting. The sales pitch by Poseidon and its army of lobbyists to get the money and gain approval for this desalination plant sets off my alarm bells.
As an immigrant, I am used to correcting people who hear me speak with an accent in meetings and assume for that reason I don’t understand what’s going on around me. As a parent and grandparent, I have heard a lot of excuses over the years and learned to press for the truth. What irks me about Poseidon is their campaign seems to treat me and other Californians as gullible. We must show them that we are NOT, and tell the Governor, state Treasurer, and anyone with a smidgeon of say-so on this scheme to stop this swindle while we still can.
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Linda Pérez is a retired school employee, former president of her union, and advocate for healthcare and the environment. An elected member of the L.A. County Democratic Party, she lives in Hollywood.
