The proposed Poseidon Huntington Beach desalination facility would be an enormous loss for the coast and ocean in Huntington Beach and beyond. The plant would be located in historic wetlands - perpetuating industrialization of the coast and limiting the region's ability to adapt to sea level rise. Wetlands would also otherwise provide carbon sequestering benefits, and the plant's organism trapping, open ocean intakes will be within fifty miles of nine state marine protected areas.
It’s also a bad investment in the future cost of water - the plant would be subject to sea level rise and may become an inaccessible island with just one foot of sea level rise and need constant maintenance during its 50 year lifetime. Check out the simulation below for the latest sea level rise modeling and its related impacts to the plant. It's also available in a 3-D interactive version and in Spanish here!
This project needs to be stopped. For these reasons and more, the project is inconsistent with the California Coastal Act and Huntington Beach's Local Coastal Program, and the Coastal Commission cannot grant Poseidon a permit for the project.
Sign the action alert today and ask the California Coastal Commission to deny this project!
For more information and more reasons why we oppose this project - check out this deeper dive!