Volunteers needed to attend the Thursday, Oct. 19 State Lands Commission meeting at the Huntington Beach City Council Chambers (2000 Main St.) to oppose the building of a huge, destructive ocean desalination plant in Huntington Beach. Surfrider staff will be doing a presentation, but we're hoping to get at least 50 chapter activists from throughout Southern California to join a rally prior to the hearing, to hold signs and, if desired, to give additional comment during the meeting. The meeting begins at 9am. Typically the meetings last only a few hours, but we can't guarantee timing.
Why is the proposed HB desal plant bad? From California Desal Facts:
- Seawater desalination is an energy hog. At a time when California is working to kick our fossil fuel habit and maximize energy efficiency, desalination is a step in the wrong direction.
- We have better ideas to meet long-term needs. California communities from San Diego to San Jose are moving ahead with affordable, energy efficient and climate resilient water projects.
- Poseidon puts profits before people. With the return of the rains and proliferation of smart water solutions, companies like Brookfield’s Poseidon are getting desperate to win approval for their billion- dollar desalination proposals. That is why Poseidon has spent millions lobbying for its Huntington Beach proposal. But the facts speak for themselves: seawater desalination should be an option of last resort, and the billion dollar boondoggles Poseidon is selling just don’t make sense for California communities.
- Poseidon is a known bad actor with chronic toxicity violations at its Carlsbad plant and a long history of attempting to skirt state regs. See Surfrider's presentation here.
Sign up here: https://goo.gl/forms/MYY2Lz0FJ05rccli2
Please share widely and join the Facebook event to help spread the word!
For more information contact Mandy Sackett at msackett@surfrider.org