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Flory – Chaffee – Whitaker
Yes, the Orange County Water District (OCWD) has many other important issues that it deals with besides just opening the door to the Poseidon boondoggle: for example, of particular concern to Fullerton, there’s the North Basin contamination, and the cleanup of the Raahauge Shooting Range, aside from the whole overall task of stewarding our Santa Ana Aquifer.
But the proposed Poseidon desal plant, for which OCWD has been the essential enabler, is of particular concern to all of us in the Northern/Western half of OC, for three groups of reasons:
- FINANCIAL (saddling all of us ratepayers with unnecessary water four times as expensive as what we’ve been getting, for fifty years, under a take-or-pay contract so that we have to buy it when we need it and when we don’t),
- ENVIRONMENTAL (slaughter of billions of sealife larvae in intake pipes; huge brine zone from the output; and enormous greenhouse gas emission) and
- MORAL (the company has spent the past 15 years paying off politicians and water officials and lying to all of us, rather than improving their plan.)
We’ve written about all of this for years, and Sean Paden has a new piece out from yesterday, geared to tonight’s Fullerton decision.
The OCWD has been dominated by a (slowly shrinking) majority that – whether due to misinformation and/or more self-interested motives, is hell-bent on making this nightmare come to fruition. We’ve had 3 out of 10 Poseidon opponents/skeptics till recently – Jan Flory, Phil Anthony, and Roger Yoh; Santa Ana’s Roman Reyna was just starting to vote with the minority but has recently been replaced by Vince Sarmiento who’d in the past been a booster. Last week Anaheim made a big step forward by replacing booster Jordan Brandman with skeptic James Vanderbilt, bringing the no-Poseidon minority up to 4. But Fullerton could easily erase that progress at their Council meeting tonight (6:30 pm) if they replace Jan Flory with the wrong person.
Flory had opted not to run for re-election to the Fullerton Council last year, but wants to stay on the water board representing her city. Two councilmen also want that seat – Bruce Whitaker and Doug Chaffee. Let’s look at each one:
Jan Flory (not to endorse some of what she’s done on Fullerton Council) has been a ROCK STAR on the OCWD since she took Whitaker’s place a couple years ago. There had been quiet timid questioning of Poseidon’s claims up to that point, but she launched into the pirates with gentle ferocity, tirelessly uncovering lies and absurdities, emboldening the other two Board skeptics, and starting to convince other directors of the folly of this project. (She has also been deeply hands-on in the North Basin contamination and Raahauge issues.) For these reasons the Orange Juice Blog enthusiastically hopes that the council votes to keep Jan Flory in this position for another term.
But our friend Bruce Whitaker would be an entirely acceptable alternative, if the Council insists giving the post to a sitting councilmember. The honest-conservative fighter against crony capitalism always had his doubts about Poseidon, and opposes it strongly now, although during his time on OCWD he was not as outspoken as Flory. (Plus he had the post taken from him for bogus reasons.) We hope that if he gets the post, he takes up Flory’s mantle and leads the opposition more aggressively.
Another good argument in favor of Flory or Whitaker (but not Chaffee) is that of CONTINUITY and EXPERIENCE. Both of these candidates are well versed in all the complex issues that the Board has to deal with; it’s said that it takes AT LEAST a year or two to get up to speed on the OCWD; there are a lot of rookies on right now, and Fullerton doesn’t need to contribute, and be represented by, one more.
The Democrat Flory believes she has the votes of her frequent ally Republican Jennifer Fitzgerald, as well as new councilman and fellow Democrat Jesús Silva. But she’ll need a third (and/or fourth) vote from Republican(s) Whitaker and Greg Sebourn, which is likely to happen if Whitaker can’t get three votes for himself. Conversely, we hope that democrat Silva will be open to crossing party lines to vote for Whitaker if Flory doesn’t make it, putting important issues over Party and risking angering some fellow Democrats and building trade unions. Remember Jesús how you bravely backed José Moreno over Jordan Brandman! Well, José just did the same thing, backing Republican Vanderbilt over Democrat Brandman mostly because he wanted to save the OC from Poseidon and Cadiz!
Finally, Democratic Mayor Pro-Tem Doug Chaffee desperately wants this position. He is the absolutely worst choice. Not conversant with the issues, obedient to every union whim, and very ambitious, he has vowed to support Poseidon, brushing aside all financial and environmental concerns. Chaffee has worked things out to probably be Fullerton Mayor in 2018, so that he can use that ballot designation to (word on the street has it) run for Supervisor that year, while trying to get his wife onto council in his place. No doubt he would like to have the generous financial support of Poseidon Resources in that endeavor, as well as the backing of the short-sided Building Trades Unions who desperately want the short-term construction jobs involved in building this billion-dollar plant.
Oh, and also finally – what a shame it is that Councils will not entertain the possibility of giving these posts to an expert non-politician, as Anaheim refused to last week. Fullerton boasts Thom Babcock, Ryan Cantor, Jane Rands, Matthew Leslie, and Sean Paden, any of whom would do the town proud on the OCWD.
Well, everyone who cares, be there tonight and speak out for Jan Flory and/or Bruce Whitaker! The Orange Juice will see you there… and we’ll have another piece soon about Poseidon’s current travails. Things are not going so smoothly for them, but they’re still a big danger, and it would be all for the best if we had a six-member majority on the OCWD that would just up and put them out of their misery.
Just SOME of our Previous Coverage of Poseidon:
- HB Council Respectfully Asks Coastal Commission to Shitcan Poseidon. (July 2013)
- Poseidon Runs Headlong into Infiltration Gallery (report on Nov 2013 Coastal Commission hearing)
- Poseidon’s Water Boy: Matt Harper Quietly Pushes Desal Scam Past Ratepayers. (May 2014)
- OCWD’s Sheldon Clams Up on Poseidon Vote, Flory Shakes Things Up! (June 2014)
- Who owns the OCWD, you or Poseidon? YOU DO! Remind them, tonight! (June 2014)
- Unpacking Poseidon’s Latest Propaganda Blitz with Debbie Cook. Pt 1: The CNN Puff Piece. (June 2014)
- Recent Poseidon-Probolsky Push-Poll Threatens Candidates and Misleads Voters. (Nov. 2014)
- Sheldon’s Unethical Culture Challenged by Legal Complaint (Dec. 2014)
- Poseidon & OCWD Bring their Snake-Oil Show to the Pumpers Tomorrow (Dec. 2014)
- Surfin’ Sheldon, Little Lost Dina, Righteous Flory – What You’ve Been Missing at OCWD! (Jan. 2015)
- Poseidon Update: OCWD “just sticks the tip in…” (Jan. 2015)
- Sheldon Says “Suck it Surf City!” The Poseidon Shill is also Behind our High Density Development. (Feb. 2015)
- OCWD’s Forecast for the Future: Cloudy with a Huge Chance of Error. (March 2015)
- Pat Bates Baits Us with Bogus Doomsday Drought Scenario. (March 2015)
- Swan Song for Poseidon? A Blast of Truth from Irvine’s Peer Swan. (March 2015)
- Cage Rattled Hard, OCWD Dons Fig Leaf Before Marrying Poseidon. (April 2015)
- Our Celebrated Groundwater Replenishment System Steals Poseidon’s Lunch Money. (April 2015)
- OCWD profile #1: Phil Anthony, the Quiet Skeptic. (April 2015)
- Showdown at the OCWD Corral Nears, R4RD launches Volley. (May 2015)
- The Poseidon Adventure Sails On! (May 2015)
- Dina Nguyen Stands Up Garden Grove, Skips Fascinating Poseidon Forum. (May 2015)
- Will OCWD be Shipwrecked by Mermaids? (June 2015)
- Cathy Green Falsely Carries Poseidon Water to Coastal Commission (June 2015)
- Watch Poseidon Joke over Proposed Property Tax Increase to fund their “Privately Funded” Desal Project. (July 2015)
- Bao Stands for Garden Grove Against Poseidon, the rest of Council Waffles. (July 2015)
- Phan is the Man – who Stopped this and Needs to Start it Again! (July 2015)
- OC Can Do Desal Better – Use Salt to Lock Up CO2 Emissions. (August 2015)
- San Diego Has Too Much Water – but is Paying $1 Billion for Their Poseidon Plant. (Dec. 2015)
- Poseidon Progress Report: Eight Ways to Screw the Public. (Feb. 2016)
- Why the Coastal Commission Will Approve Poseidon. (April 2016)
- Poseidon in denial over the obstacles ahead, and more… (May 2016)
- Dispatches from the Battle Against Poseidon, Summer 2016 (July 2016)
- Poseidon Plays the Race Card, LULAC Dances to their Tune. (July 2016)
This vote was put off till next month, when some conflict with Jennifer Fitzgerald and OCWD will apparently vanish.
The meeting still went on till almost midnight. But it was nice to see Jesús side with Bruce more often than Doug and Jennifer.
Replacing Flory would be difficult — unless it was with Flory.
Hearing more from Ryan (since I wasn’t there when the postponement happened) – turns out Jennifer’s conflict (which she maintains is only an “appearance” of conflict) is due to her representing the Irvine Ranch Water District, and that problem will disappear on the first of February.
IRWD – interesting. That agency has been the most steadfast against Poseidon. If Pringle & Associates (for which Jennifer works) has been paid to put forth an anti-Poseidon message, this explains Pringlecorp’s mixed messages on it – with the OC Business Council and OC TAX singing its praises while Jennifer Fitzgerald backs Poseidon foe Flory.
Brings up a worry too — what’s happening February 1? Did Poseidon offer Pringle more money than IRWD was paying? This could be bad.
And to these Facebook musings of mine, Ryan responds:
“Vern, IRWD opposed it. Council in Fullerton has specifically discussed this item in relation to it’s rep on OCWD. Paraphrasing Ms Flory, I will vote as the council directs.
IRWD has paid Fitzgerald to advocate on its behalf. Fitzgerald is in a position to appoint an individual, including herself, to decide an issue critical to IRWD.
If that’s not a conflict, I don’t know what is.
Assume this scenario.
Fitzgerald appoints Flory. Flory opposes desal. Irvine opposes desal. Irvine pays Fitz.
Irvine continues to oppose desal. Irvine stops paying Fitz . . .
1) Fitz appoints pro-desal to OCWD. Because she stopped getting paid?
2) Fitz appoints anti-desal to OCWD. Because she got paid?
In EITHER scenario, the appearance of a conflict persists. She should recuse herself and respect the integrity of her office. End of story.”
*Point of worthless information: The run off that goes out to see from the LA River and
the Santa Ana Waterway……collects no water to reclaim. The current seemingly unlimited storms have netted NO CAL with 161% of Snow pack….making the drought in NO CAL….now in abeyance. Had SO CAL been able to capture, shed, reclaim or store any of the storm run-off from these and future storms…..we may not have needed any DeSal at all. However, since this reality is what it is: We need our four DeSal plants for SO CAL and San Diego…..otherwise…you guys can all go swimming in the Salton Sea during the coming summer months and let us know whether you glow in the dark in your beds or camp bed rolls…and for how long afterward.
That’s not true. Prado Dam collects stormwater. Stormwater released into Santa Ana River and from there directed into spreading basins that refill the OC aquifers.
Not a stance on anti- or pro-desal, just a plea for accuracy.
*Good Grief….the Tooth Fairy is alive and well….just as we thought, and of course that same run off water is used as barrier water to hold back the seawater….and there is no such thing as brackish water….and the wells in the OC are as pure as the driven snow…..and America has a great new leader who will only ask that we raise our right hand at a 45 degree angle and our lives will be pure as the driven snow……. Recharge your phone cards…don’t ever think that storm run off can get through the downstream trash and reparian growth….to wind its way to toilet to tap and a never ending supply of potable water. Have you been chatted with by the Irvine Ranch Water District people again?
Along with massive snow pack retention dams elsewhere in the San Gabriel mountains used to feed groundwater recharge facilities throughout greater LA.
Ships have been dead wrong on this for years. Don’t expect it to change.
*Oh my goodness, we did forget about the Angel San Gabriel……why didn’t we think of that? We better pay for your next degree in Oceanography and Water Management Systems. Why is educating the public….such an impossible task? Politics….101…….we knew you secretly wanted to know the real answer.
*One more thing: Common sense: For all you NON Surfers out there….go to the breakwater by the Santa Ana River Channel…..get to the high ground and look out at all the Green Brackish water that pushes out 500 yards….and up and down the beach……Seawater is dark blue…..compared to the Brackish half and half…..that is green. This water is dangerous to swim in because it contains hyperdermic needles, birth control pills and a lot of very serious fecal bacteria….which is generated coming from the mountains to the sea. So, the question is simple: If the water at the oceans edge is dangerous what about the water that supposedly goes into the ground water replenishment wells? Never mind….this is just plain common sense…..hard to convince people unless it is something else?
What the shit are you talking about?
After the gibberish is sifted out there’s nothing left.
*In case you missed the point? Let’s all just altogether sing:
“Peer Swan is my hero and I love being a n insider paid off member/consultant/believer in the Church of the Irvine Ranch Water District.” Get all the gibberish now?
“You maybe no speakee engless compadres?”
Meanwhile, we would advise not having yourself or family members of friends drinking any water from any City or County parks or holding wells……unless of course you love the taste of rocket fuel, MTBE’s, UNK Pharmaceutical products, carcenigenic paint chips and gasoline – in the morning!
So. Me, Ryan, and every opponent of Poseidon is paid by Peer Swan because we are all smart enough to know how stupid Poseidon is.
The brain damage from the martinis is approaching irreversible.
Hitting back with nonsense won’t do.
*No Chairman Vern…..you are pure as the driven snow and simply misguided by rhetorical simplicity. Having joined hands with the likes of Joey Racano and Jay Vandersloot over the years has twisted the logic of free and easy water with the harsher realities. Joey too feels that the Dreaded Poseidon Cabal will kill elemental sea creatures, raise the ocean temperature and create a deadly path for our seaweed population. We have heard all that and have concluded, that inspite of those clear and present dangers…..NEED TRUMPS DRAUGHT….if we can push the pun button a little without offending everyone in four states. We are surely open to modern technology which could recapture that mud from the fire zone mountains and make it into pure potable water….stored ever so correctly, with a proper cover that does not instigate bacteria outbreaks, or allow open water storage not to be polluted by bird droppings and such. With
Desal a couple of very nice things are possible: (1) You can only create the amount you need in the short term. (2) You can create storage facilities and tanks which can be used when needed. There is little doubt that every technology has its own list of negatives. The problem is seeking long term solutions for a growing population strategy. Without more people, our state will die. Without more development our state will raise cost of living beyond recognition because of demand…..as we have easily observed in the last 5 to 10 years….without speculation. So, the answer is clear Chairman Vern….you have good arguments but truly lack the long term solutions that would make Desal unnecessary!
Ships, you understand the plan for Posideon is to pump all the water it produces into aquafer, correct? Please join us on the side of lunacy and oppose this project if you really believe what you typed:
“Meanwhile, we would advise not having yourself or family members of friends drinking any water from any City or County parks or holding wells……unless of course you love the taste of rocket fuel, MTBE’s, UNK Pharmaceutical products, carcenigenic paint chips and gasoline – in the morning!
*RC…Plans are what you make between realities. Nothing is structured in stone when it comes to Bureaucracy, Government, Unfunded Projects or through a variety of Planning Commissions and Consultants…..we might suggest. Love to save the taxpayers, homeowners and public officials a whole bunch of embarrassments and not do anything. The problem we have is: You still do not offer a viable alternative method of doubling our potable and pure water supply for Commercial and New Residential property. We have been under a short fall for how many years? Five or 10 …depending on who is counting. You will have to be a lot more detailed about what you consider aquifer replenishment programs. Are you talking about pumping Desal Water up to Bastenchery Creek and keeping those wells filled? Are you talking about dumping water in the Anaheim Creeks system and letting filter down into a maze of underground well water? Are you talking about using the Desal Water to pump up to the Newport Channel as a barrier to rebuff Seawater entry into our shore line well system? Or, are you talking about sending the Desal Water to the Irvine Ranch Water District and having those folks re-sell it at a sizeable profit……as Peer Swan might suggest…..of course only when potable water shortfalls occur during the summer or late autumn months? Or as they say on Sports Center “Not so fast…”
Hey. Dipshit, it’s a SIXTY YEAR CONTRACT. It’s set in stone. Please get acquainted with the facts.
There’s no need to “double” the water supply. That’s just ridiculous.
This is about one plant with a horrible, horrible, horrible contract.
The sad thing is, we’ve told him all these facts many times.
The sad fact is this world, country, and blog even, has folks who are just in love with whatever they’ve decided their positions are, and they don’t open their ears to ONE. UNCOMFORTABLE. FACT.
I’m all for a robust marketplace of ideas, but this is beyond maddening.
“Our groundwater is polluted! We need desal!”
“You know they’re going to dump 100% of the desal water produced by this plant into the groundwater you say is polluted. It’s in the contract.”
“Meeeeeehhhhhhh, things change.”
“No, seriously, they don’t. Sixty years.”
“But you don’t have an alternative to double our water supply!”
“Why does that have anything to do with putting desalinated water into the aquifer?”
“Because reasons.”
“You’re making shit up. Stop.”
“GO LAKERS.”
“Go home, ships. You’re drunk.”
Great news on OCWD membership re. Poseidon. We knew we were going to lose the great Jan Flory, since she decided to leave the Fullerton Council. She could have been replaced by either Poseidon-supporting Democrat Doug Chaffee or Poseidon-opposing Bruce Whitaker (pictured below.) Dodged a bullet at last night’s Fullerton Council meeting – Bruce won 3-2! This brings the anti-Poseidon minority on OCWD up to 4 out of 10 (counting Phil Anthony, Roger Yoh, and Anaheim’s fine new Jordan Brandman replacement, James Vanderbilt!)
[PS consolation to you Flory fans – Bruce has agreed to let her serve out two more meetings.]
Special thanks go to new, Democratic Fullerton councilman Jesus Silva (also pictured below; husband of assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva.) He voted against party lines for the Republican he thought was best on the relevant issues, which is good to see. He’s probably risked the anger and even retaliation of some fellow Democrats and some building trade unions – but it wouldn’t be the first time for him, this is an echo of when he backed Dr. Jose Moreno over trade-union-favored Jordan Brandman. Thank you, Jesus! (Wait that sounded funny.)
I believe we have a couple of wobblers in the pro-Poseidon majority, whom we have to work on. Six members could just vote to tank this thing if they wanted.
Ought to be its own post! This is good news at a time when we sure need it. I’m so glad to see that Jesús has figured out which faction is more trustworthy when it comes to “pet projects”!