The PCL Insider: News From The Capitol

PLANS ALL WET FOR SPRAWL-INDUCING OCEANWATER DESALINATION PLANT PROPOSAL

Last Thursday, in a move heralded by environmentalists across the state, the San Diego County Water Authority abandoned plans for a massive, costly, environmentally-damaging ocean water desalination plant. The plant, proposed for the City of Carlsbad, would have consumed tremendous amounts of energy in order to produced 50 million gallons of water per day, much of that going to support new sprawl development.

The Water Authority planned to connect the desalination plant to the aging Encina Power Station, forcing the power plant to continue a practice called "once-through cooling." The cooling method, popular in older high-polluting coastal power plants, destroys large amounts of marine life as ocean water is pulled through the facility.

The Water Authority decided not to proceed with the proposed desalination plant after the power plant owner NRG Energy Inc. announced earlier in the week that it would be demolishing the outdated cooling system entirely and replacing it with a more efficient, less environmentally harmful air-cooled facility that would be built at the location of the proposed desalination facility.

"San Diego has done a great service to their residents by choosing not to tie their water supply to an antiquated 'once through cooling' technology. Coastal communities who are considering desalination across the State can learn from this situation. There are viable and cost effective alternatives for water supply that will not require coastal communities to live with the damaging effects of once-through cooling facilities forever," explains PCL's Mindy McIntyre.

The latest positive developments do not mark the definitive end of desalination for this stretch of coastline. In June 2006, the City of Carlsbad approved an Environmental Impact Report for a nearly-identical plant to be run at the same location by Poseidon, Inc., a private multi-national company. The City has not yet announced whether it intends to pursue the desalination plant in light of NRG's new plans.

PCL has been an active player in the fight to fend off Carlsbad's dueling desalination plant proposals, submitting extensive written comments, testifying at public hearings, and advocating for the termination of once-through cooling statewide.

PCL HOT ON THE TAIL OF GLOBAL WARMING

This year, California has the opportunity to pass the most significant legislation in the country to address global warming, AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. Jointly-authored by California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and Assembly Member Fran Pavley, AB 32 calls for a mandatory cap on greenhouse gas emissions to lower the state's emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

PCL knows that when the stakes are this high, it's imperative that legislators hear from their constituents loud and clear. That's why we're taking a leading role in rallying grassroots environmentalists to speak out in favor of AB 32. To get involved or for more information, please contact PCL's Matt Vander Sluis at 916-313-4515 or mvander@pcl.org. Join us and help California lead the country to curb global warming!