Monterey Bay desalination project is approved despite environmental injustice concerns
A public review panel has approved the largest public works project in the history of California history. But the project includes a plan that would eliminate more endangered species than any other project in the state’s history.
A public review panel has approved the largest public works project in the history of California history. But the project includes a plan that would eliminate more endangered species than any other project in the state’s history.
State regulators and taxpayers will have to pay the cost for the state’s largest and most controversial environmental project.
Environmental groups opposed the project, which would include a desalination plant, because they feared that the project would harm coastal water resources and jeopardize the survival of at least one species.
But the panel approved the plant, a $20.7 billion project to produce 50 percent of California’s water needs by 2045, even though it would eliminate hundreds of threatened species and jeopardize over 100 species of plants and animals.
The project includes the first large-scale construction of a seawater desalination facility in the world, a $1.8 billion project that has been the subject of several legal battles in federal courts.
The most recent of the legal tussles was a battle between the California Coastal Commission and the Save Our Coast San Diego County Coalition for a three-year, $1.5m settlement that will eventually pay for the plant’s power and heating system.
Critics said the process for approving the project should have been more transparent, with public meetings held before the decision even came out as the project was being approved.
Some of the critics said the commission had only done its job in the last few weeks, and not done its job on the larger issue of protecting California’s coast for future generations.
The desalination project is seen as key for California’s future.
The water crisis in California has left many people with only their lawns as a source of fresh drinking water, but it is also devastating the state’s agriculture industry, which is dependent on the fresh water supply available from the Colorado River.
While agriculture and public education in California have been at the core of