Carlsbad Desalination Plant Gets OK

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published August 7, 2008 at 5:46 AM PDT

This story was published more than 15 years ago.

The California Coastal Commission approved construction of a desalination plant in Carlsbad. The project still faces at least one more hurdle. KPBS Environmental Reporter Ed Joyce has more.

The California Coastal Commission approved construction of a desalination plant in Carlsbad. The project still faces at least one more hurdle. KPBS Environmental Reporter Ed Joyce has more.

After ten years Poseidon Resources is a step closer to building the largest desalination plant in the country.

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The company says it would turn seawater into 50 million gallons of fresh water a day.

After hours of testimony and some slight changes, the coastal commission approved Poseidon's plans to offset greenhouse gas emissions and the potential harm to marine life.

Poseidon's Scott Maloni says the next hurdle is getting approval for a land lease from the state lands commission.

Maloni: If we're successful there and we believe we will be, we anticipate being able to break ground on the desalination plant the first half of 2009. So we should be producing water, putting it in the regional distribution system in 2011.

The state lands commission meeting is scheduled for August 22. Mark Massara is the coastal programs director for the Sierra Club. He says the coastal commission is more concerned about saving Poseidon money rather than protecting the coast.

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Massara called the decision corporate welfare. He also says it's bad news for marine life.

Massara: Poseidon's plan is all about ensuring they make a profit. The coastal commission's legal obligation is to ensure the health of the coast for future generations.

He says the desalinaton plant will destroy millions of fish and do long-term damage to coastal fisheries.
Massara is also concerned about giving a private company control over water resources.

Environmental groups have indicated they may take legal action to block construction of the plant.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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