Who Runs the Orange County Water District? You or Poseidon Inc.?
Commentary
By John Earl, Surf City Voice.
Dear Friends:
“A journalist is a good citizen of his or her community.”
That’s what I learned from the editor of the Eugene Register Guard, while taking a college journalism class at the University of Oregon, more years ago than I would care to remember.
But what he said is still true today. And that’s why I am asking you, in this editorial, to please show up and speak out at the Orange County Water District board meeting, at 5:30 tonight, Wednesday, June 4, CORNER OF WARD AND ELLIS IN FOUNTAIN VALLEY, about a proposal on the agenda to spend $50,000 or more on a study that will financially benefit Poseidon Resources Inc., a shady corporation that wants to build a $1 billion ocean desalination plant in Huntington Beach and make us pay for it, whether we need the water it would produce or not.
Here’s why I think it’s important:
As explained in the recent Surf City Voice story, at the May 21 board meeting of the OCWD, Director Stephen Sheldon voted on a contract proposal that will benefit Poseidon, even though documentation he has filed with the District and the County shows that he works for a consulting company that has Poseidon for a client.
The fundamental question regarding the contract vote that is continued on Wednesday night’s OCWD agenda is, who does the board represent and work for, Poseidon or WE the people?
It’s obvious, from what we have seen from countless water board meetings all over Southern California, that the typical water board director believes in representing the “water industry” before or instead of WE the people.
Sheldon’s shilling for Poseidon Resources Inc. is illegal and unethical by ANY commonsense interpretation of the law.
But I hope that you don’t let that discourage you, because the situation is hopeless ONLY if you act hopeless by not loudly voicing your disapproval of actions like the illegal and unethical vote that took place at the last OCWD meeting (May 21).
In some of the emails I have seen, people are wondering, “Well, there must be some exception to the laws (cited in the article) that Sheldon and some other members of the OCWD board and their legal counsel will use to get away with it,” as if it’s useless to protest what was done.
You can read the State Attorney General’s explanation of what constitutes a conflict of interest under Govt. Code 1090 (not to mention, the Political Reform Act) yourselves, and, after that, I think it should be obvious in any common sense interpretation that Sheldon AND THE ENTIRE BOARD violated the law, although, clearly, some directors voted reluctantly to move the matter along and not because they supported the proposed contract.
It’s not even about whether Poseidon is a good project or not.
Right now, it’s about, who does the elected board of OCWD represent? Poseidon? Or the people?
Even the worst legal counsel can try to squiggle through self-serving and imaginary loopholes or creative exceptions to the law, and we can be almost certain that is what OCWD’s legal counsel will try to do tomorrow night (Wed. June 4, 5:;30 pm) if pressed. But, ultimately, WE, the people, are the law of the land, PERIOD, but ONLY if we stand together and SHOW UP at the meeting and SPEAK OUT!
The OCWD, as a whole, is a board that, like other water boards, has shown little regard for the public’s right to participate in the governing process. As it shills for Poseidon to create a study that will benefit Poseidon’s ability to get its project approved and financed (as Poseidon CEO Scott Maloni made clear at the last meeting), it shut down a citizens’ committee created to study Poseidon’s project by allowing democratic participation in the process, after complaints about that committee’s blatant pro-Poseidon bias.
This is a board, like other water boards, that holds most of its meetings at hours when the public can’t attend, holds illegal and secret meetings, and, like most other water boards, refuses to provide video streaming or video or audio archives of those meetings because the board assumes that the meetings are for the benefit of the water industry, NOT YOU.
This is a board whose president holds two legally incompatible offices, another clear conflict of interest that allows him (Shawn Dewayne) to double-line his pockets with your money by going to lots of unnecessary and irrelevant meetings and costly out of town events.
But the situation is not as hopeless as it may seem, not only because there are some rays of hope on the OCWD board, but because change starts with YOU, US, WE the PEOPLE, by exercising our right to OWN OUR GOVERNMENT.
What have we all worked for, for so long, if not for the right to have our rightful say through our elected officials?
I hope that, to that end, everyone and their friends, whoever you can get to the meeting, will show up and that EACH OF YOU WILL SPEAK OUT, regardless of how redundant you might think you are; because, obviously, this board needs to hear it over and over and over again, and so that other people, like us, will be inspired to also get involved and take control of their local government—for the ultimate purpose of getting better government, instead of sham projects like Poseidon.
The Poseidon game is nearly over, one way or the other. Regardless of the law, how it ends will depend on who the water buffaloes respond to the most.
The ball is in OUR court.
What will we do with it, after all these years of hard work?
Sincerely,
John Earl
Surf City Voice
– See more at: http://www.surfcityvoice.org/2014/06/who-runs-the-orange-county-water-district-you-or-poseidon-inc/
I will be there, brother.
Where is Southern California going to get its water?
Not from Sacramento, the Colorado River, or Mono Lake, and recycled toilet water can only go so far.
Should huge pumping station be built at the desal locations to handle super tankers filled with fresh water from the Northwest?
If you want people to attend the meeting you better tell folks where the hell they meet, don’t you think? If they haven’t attended before how would they know?
Who, What, When & WHERE – just the basics folks!
OK, thought that was in there… I’ll add it in if John hasn’t already
The date, time and place (Orange County Water District) were mentioned. The exact location, however, is on the corned of Ward and Euclid streets in Fountain Valley. Enter off of Ward and park in the visitor parking areas.
Ward and Ellis. Euclid changes to Ellis when it turns.
I thought it might be, but you never know.
I’m sure it has an address that would plug into Google maps, for those who navigate via phone apps, but then I might be wrong at that too. Like maybe, 10844 Ellis Ave., Fountain Valley, CA 92708, but I might be wrong, hell I’ve driven by the complex zillions of times but have no idea where in that maze they meet, so your directions of entering off Ward are a help.
or 10877 Ellis Ave.
18700 Ward St
Fountain Valley, CA 92708
This looks like the right one!
Yes, I think that’s it.
As I stated in the previous post on this topic, I would not be surprised at all to see Faubel neck deep in this, nor by the idea that the Santa Margarita Water District would be buying water from Poseidon.
Rancho Mission Viejo needs water to develop its new 14,000 houses and back in 2004, when the The Ranch Plan EIR was approved, they were making deals to buy water (they don’t have any of their own) from water agencies all over the place in order to get both the CEQA docs, the permits and the Development Agreement approved.
Faubel’s role in getting water to RMV and selling it for Poseidon sure looks dicey. Oh, and here’s this:
http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2013/05/roger_faubel_poseidon_resource_1.php
And also, the theft of the water table under the Mojave Desert for new south Orange County developments, a wild story there, “Cadiz, the Desert Water Pimps.” Faubel was a dependable yes on that.
http://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2012/07/cadiz-the-desert-water-pimps/
Funny, when I first met Faubel and Lochrie… we were friends! Cuz they’d been hired by the guys who were trying to stop the Fairgrounds from being sold. Whoever hires them I guess…
Lobbyists and influence peddlers don’t have friends. They have temporary interests.
LOL, and whenever Sandy Genis and Theresa Sears (who were instrumental to stopping the Fairgrounds Swindle) would feel like chatting a little bit about their anti-Poseidon work, they’d go off to the corner and talk quietly – out of politeness AND discretion.
“And also, the theft of the water table under the Mojave Desert for new south Orange County ”
Vern are we not the end user? The water junkies (us) that Orange County Water District and the state government and agencies push too.
If you sympathize with endless development of the undeveloped south County, then maybe … no, I guess you’re still not the end user, cook, unless you move there or are profiting off it somehow.
Vern I meant end user as in I drink water, bath in it, do laundry, etc.
Not the last user.
It looked to me like you were referring to the water stolen from under the Mojave. No, that is not for you and me, Cook. It is for south-county developers and folks who move to these new developments from Missouri or saudi arabia.
The Grand Jury reports says “build the de sal plants now” (38 page report 6-4-14)
“The largest, yet to be developed source of local water is the Pacific ocean. Two OC desalination projects are being evaluated by regulatory agencies and OC water districts, Poseidon’s 50 Mgd Huntington Beach project and the MWDOC’s Doheny Coastal Ocean Desalination Project”
“Environmental activists assert a high mortality rate in the millions/day for marine life like fish eggs and larvae which are sucked into the seawater intake. Whether these numbers are founded on good science and applicable to a specific site and technology is moot.”
Yeah we’ll be writing soon about Poseidon’s latest PR blitz: the bought-off Grand Jury and the brainless CNN plug. So much BS, so little time…
I’m trying to think of how to get at this with a Public Records Act request. This seems like an egregious abuse of the Grand Jury system and I’d like to know how it happened. Any interested attorneys or others with relevant information or expertise, let’s brainstorm.
How did that question sort or possibly land in the Grand Jury’s lap? Seems to me that it shows who has sway in the County government. And the assertion that destruction of ocean life is “moot” is screwy — and completely outside of the Grand Jury’s purview. Perhaps we need an investigation as to how this happened.
The Grand Jury investigates local governments such as the various water boards.
I expect that someone had sent it a request to check out the de sal plants. I guess this is not the outcome you expected.