by John Earl, Surf City Voice
General Manager Nixes Secret Desal Talks with Poseidon After Brown Act Complaints
Water District GM Kevin Hunt
Confronted by complaints of illegality, the Municipal Water District of Orange County (MWDOC) dropped a scheduled closed session section of a meeting of its board of directors scheduled for today (May 15) at 11 a.m.
General Manager Kevin Hunt had scheduled the closed session in order to meet with officials of Poseidon Resources Inc., the company that proposes to build the as yet unfinanced and unpermitted $750 million ocean desalination plant that would convert about 100 million gallons of ocean water into 50 million gallons of drinking water every day.
The public meeting will go ahead minus the Poseidon item, but instead of holding session at MWDOC’s regular location in Fountain Valley, the seven board members will meet at the offices of the agency’s new legal team, Best, Best & Krieger (BKK).
Lunch will be served, according to the agenda.
The topic of discussion for the now deleted closed session item, according to the original agenda, was “price and terms of payment” for the water that Poseidon would produce.
California’s open meetings law, the Brown Act, requires that all legislative meetings be open to the public, with certain exceptions like negotiations for the sale or lease of real property. Water rights are treated as real property and Hunt, under advice from BKK, assumes that Poseidon holds water rights for the drinking water it will presumably produce, according to Hunt, a view that is disputed.
Debbie Cook
The problem, according to former Huntington Beach mayor, Debbie Cook, who opposes the desalination plant, is that “Not only are water contracts (emphasis added) not real property—transferred by virtue of a deed—but Poseidon has no title to property with any associated water rights that can be transferred.”
In that case, Cook told the Voice by e-mail, “To meet in closed session under the ‘Real Property’ exemption to the Brown Act is patently illegal. Shame on Best, Best, and Krieger for their complicity in this obstruction of open government and public participation.”
When contacted by the Voice Sunday night, Hunt acknowledged that Poseidon did not have a property deed to transfer but said that the company would have rights for water that it produces and delivers.
“I’m not trying to set a precedent here,” Hunt said, claiming that Poseidon is going through the same process for another desalination plant it wants to build in Carlsbad, in San Diego County.
*Holding back the tide of Desalination is much akin to hoping that the sun will not come up in the morning ….so we won’t have to use our air conditioning.
The Poseidon Project naturally requires strict environmental enforcement. Hey, it will be a first and everyone watches those things – as well they should. Meanwhile, the MWD doesn’t seem to be exactly waving the white flag and giving Poseidon any help on this issue. Why? Perhaps, the competition might just lower the price of water…just maybe?
Who knows? Anyway, we fully support the Surf City City Council – go get that Desal and do what is right! What does Dana say about this issue? What about Senator Harman? What about Assmeblyman Wagner? Step up folks….step up.
There is no way to have good and responsive government unless it is open for the public to see and unless the public always has a watchful eye directed at the issues of government. Desalination may well someday be a part of our water future, but it should be a part of our future only after an open and forthright discussion of all of the involved issues of desalination. The public’s interest will not be served if MWDOC does its business in secret with those who will financially benefit if desalination from their deliberations.
I have posted many comments in various papers and to Gov. Brown’s website on desalination but not this complicated way We need to use the sun’s energy with focusing mirrors to distill ocean water to get clean water needing almost no chlorine disinfecting treatment. And the concentrated salt remaining can be used to disinfect sewage discharge water if the water goes directly to the ocean. That would eliminate present chlorine treating of much sewage water that releases haloform chemicals blamed for ozone depletion.