Residents, activists seek answers from Poseidon

Officials with the AES company that runs Huntington Beach’s power plant met with a small crowd to give a legally required quarterly presentation on the environmental impact of the plant’s cooling system.

But it was a tough audience, as many residents and activists who came to listen and ask questions were often opposed to the plant and its deal with Poseidon Resources to build a desalination plant on the property.

They came to find out whether the aging power plant’s cooling system will still be legal in the wake of a recent federal court decision. They came to see whether and how AES planned to adapt. And they came to find out whether the controversial Poseidon desalination plant, which would be built on the property and make freshwater from that cooling system’s output, still has a chance.

AES officials told the audience they were aware of the decision, which may require the “best available technology” be used to keep a plant cool.

The decision by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals tells the EPA to write a new rule on cooling systems for power plants that doesn’t take the cost of renovations into account. It also said environmental restoration efforts can’t balance the impact of a cooling system that heats up too much seawater or kills too much ocean life. Because the Huntington Beach plant has problems in both areas, observers say it is likely in jeopardy.

But since the EPA has yet to rewrite its rules, companies can not predict exactly what will be required of them, said AES Huntington Beach President Eric Pendergraft. AES also can’t speak for Poseidon’s plans, he added. In the meantime, the company has consultants studying all the options — from “closed-cycle” cooling systems that use less water to dry-cooling towers that use no water.

“We’ll take any viable option we can put our hands on,” he said.

Poseidon opponent Merle Moshiri, president of Residents for Responsible Desalination, said she heard few answers she didn’t already know. But the big message she got from the meeting was that the power plant’s operators might have met their match in the rule change, she said.

“[The decision] really appears to have thrown a clinker into all their plans,” she said. “When they say that this could be two years, maybe four or eight years till we have a new rule, I don’t know if Poseidon stockholders are going to be willing to wait that long.”

Others who oppose the desalination plant saw it differently. More delays in fixing the problem will just allow environmentally unsound technology to stay in operation longer, said Joe Geever, the Surfrider Foundation of Southern California’s regional manager.

“As this keeps getting delayed, more fish will continue to die,” he said.