by The Editors on December 21, 2009
San Diego Union-Tribune writer Janet Lavelle reminds us that it’s bird watching season in the Carlsbad Lagoons.
It’s at this time of year that bird populations explode in the six lagoons, as migratory fowl wing south along the Pacific Flyway in an inexorable call of breeding and survival. Some stop at the lagoons for a brief respite on their journey, while others stay through spring. . . “The North County lagoons are extremely important for birds on the Pacific Flyway,” said Andy Mauro, past president of the San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy and a lifelong birder. “Many species rely on the coastal-wetlands habitat. We have a very large wintering population of shorebirds.”
Guess we better get out those binocs and our iPhones loaded with the Audubon Birds app and start adding to our list.
[Link: San Diego Union-Tribune]
by The Editors on December 11, 2009
On his blog Aguanomics Economist and Wantrup Fellow at UC Berkeley David Zetland, PhD has an interesting take on the Poseidon Resources desalination plant.
While he points out that there are many people who worry about Poseidon’s track record, or the fact that they’re asking for $550 million in tax-favored public bonds, or that the $700 million plant will cost tax payer more than the “promised price” what has Zetland most worried is the Carlsbad Municipal Water District.
Although these things concern me,** I worry more about Poseidon’s partner, Carlsbad MWD, which has the dubious honor of being the least-competent manager of wastewater in the State. . . .With partners like that, I wonder if Poseidon is really facing a worthy contractual partner that can push back when/if push comes to shove. (This is especially relevant given Poseidon’s friendly relations with local politicians.)
Zetland summarizes by saying: “If Poseidon screws up, will Carlsbad MWD be competent enough to catch them or make sure they pay?” And that is one of the best questions we heard so far.
[Link: Aguanomics]
by The Editors on December 11, 2009
Three enviornmental groups who wanted the California Coastal Commission to revoke a development permit they’d given for Poseidon Resources’ Desalination Plant were denied on Thursday, December 10, 2009, according to a story on KPBS.
The 9-to-3 vote to deny the revocation request came after two hours of testimony at the Coastal Commission meeting in San Francisco. . . “The grounds for revocation are narrow and the Commission cannot reconsider a permit if new information has surfaced after the permit has been issued, no matter how compelling that information may be,” Coastal Commission Deputy Director Alison Detmer told commissioners during the meeting.
Poseidon Resources is obviously happy and the Surfrider Foundation, San Diego Coastkeeper and the Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation have simply filed another revocation request.
[Link: KPBS]
by The Editors on November 30, 2009
Two hikers who were cruising the shores of Batiquitos Lagoon in the shadow of the Four Season’s Aviara spotted a five-foot long “Burmese python” today, according to a story in the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Troy Keenan (pictured right), a volunteer for the Batiquitos Lagoon Foundation, was working in the foundation’s nature center at the west end of the lagoon when the hikers reported their find. . . “I kind of tiptoed into the pickle weed and saw it stretched out,” Keenan said. He grabbed the snake’s tail, put his baseball cap over its head and grabbed the reptile behind its neck. In a few moments, the python was in a trash bag and animal control was on its way. . . “It got my adrenaline up, let’s put it that way,” he said.
Good thing they got it when they did as Burmese pythons will eat anything and can live almost anywhere. Ever heard the story from the Florida Everglades about the 13 foot python that tried to eat a six foot long alligator? It didn’t go well for either animal.
[Editors’ Note: As a commenter has pointed out, the snake in the above photograph is a boa constrictor and not the much more dangerous “burmese python” as reported by the Union-Tribune.]
[Link: San Diego Union-Tribune]
by The Editors on November 29, 2009
Garry Brown, executive director of Orange County Coastkeeper compares the difference in water cost between a Ground Water Replenishment System operating in Orange County with the cost of water per acre foot from Poseidon Resources‘ proposed Carlsbadistan desalination plant in an editorial for the Daily Pilot.
The total cost of the highly treated [GWRS] drinking water is less than $800 per acre foot. . . We know that ocean desalination is used throughout the world. The costs per acre foot range between $2,000 and $3,000. There is certainly no reason to believe it can be done for less money in Southern California.
He goes on to point out that the only other desalination plant that Poseidon has built went “$40 million over budget, five years late, and has never produced the promised amount of water. In fact, “Poseidon had to be removed from plant operations and replaced by a public agency.” Oddly, the Tampa Bay plant isn’t even listed on the “our experience” page of Poseidon’s website. The only desal plants they list are the as-yet-unbuilt Carlsbad and Huntington Beach facilities.
All of this makes us ask this question: is Poseidon’s real business making drinking water or simply using the promise of water as a means of extracting money from public agencies?
[Link: Daily Pilot]
by The Editors on November 26, 2009
That’s the question San Francisco Bay Guardian writer Rebecca Bowe asks in one of the best stories we’ve read about Poseidon Resources plans for their desalination plant on the Aqua Hedionda Lagoon.
“Aside from doing nothing about conservation and continuing to require huge amounts of energy for transmission, these plants also have no real community benefit, minimal job creation, and, most importantly, a questionable success and effectiveness,” members of Service Employees International Union Local 721 wrote in a letter to the Metropolitan Water District, Southern California’s water wholesaler. “We believe we can conserve more water by installing waterless urinals across L.A. County than we would obtain from the proposed desalination plant.”
Those who think they know what this desalination plant is all about should click the link to read the rest of this story.
[Link: San Francisco Bay Guardian]
by The Editors on November 20, 2009
Carlsbadistan based electric car maker Aptera’s founder Steve Fambro tells Popular Mechanics that contrary to rumors quoted on Wired’s Autopia blog, he was not ousted “in a boardroom showdown,” he’s simply on vacation until the end of the year.
“I think some people read into this situation a little further than they should have, ” Fambro says. “Some folks were let go, and since they hadn’t seen me around—they put two and two together and made a fairly large and incorrect assumption,” he says. “Since I started Aptera, I’ve had like three or four vacation days. One of them was after receiving a 2008 Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award in NYC. So I need to take some time, and come back in the beginning of the new year.”
Great. We hope Mr. Fambro enjoys his vacation.
[Link: Popular Mechanics]
by The Editors on November 13, 2009
Power of Vision, a community group who is opposed to the NRG’s plans for a new power plant on the grounds of the Encina Power Station, has announced they are actively collection the ugliest photos they can find of the power plant.
We are so concerned about the visual impacts we are sponsoring an “Ugly Picture” campaign. Send us your photos of the power plant site. Send us the worst of what you see everyday as you look out your windows, walk on the beach or drive by. Send us the worst of what you see out surfing, catching a beautiful sunset or cruising Highway 101. Send us the worst of what will happen if we have TWO power plants in North County on the beach. These pictures will then be submitted to the California Energy Commission as visual proof of the toll this plant already takes on our coast. We need to let the CEC know that the region will not tolerate additional blight on the coast.
Images can be emailed to powerofvision@roadrunner.com or mailed to Power of Vision, 300 Carlsbad Village Drive Suite 108A-64, Carlsbad, CA 92008 by January 15, 2010. Please include a brief description of where the photo was taken and the date.
Maybe we should send them our blog header. . .
[Link: Power Of Vision]
by The Editors on November 6, 2009
According to a report releassd on November 4, 2009 by the consumer advocacy group Food & Water Watch, the cost of water from Poseidon’s proposed Carlsbadistan desalination plant could cost three times as much as the company has projected.
“Poseidon claims that their Carlsbad desalination water will come at ‘no expense to the region’s taxpayers,’ yet they are counting on Metropolitan Water District ratepayers and taxpayers to underwrite the project,” said Renee Maas, water program organizer for Food & Water Watch. “Policymakers should learn from Poseidon’s failed Tampa Bay facility and only use public funds for effective and responsible projects.”
According to James Fryer, the author of the new report even if things go well costs could still reach $1910 per acre-foot which is twice the $950 claimed by Poseidon.
Cost over-runs and bankruptcy marked Poseidon’s previous foray into the desalination business. The Tampa Bay plant opened over a year behind schedule, and then required immediate rehabilitation. As a result, he project ran 44 percent over projected capital cost and has never produced the 25 MGD originally promised by Poseidon.
Hurray for desal. . . to read the entire report, click here for the PDF.
[Link: Common Dreams]
by The Editors on November 6, 2009
Carlsbadistan’s Carlsbad Aquafarm got some we-deserved play yesterday in a fish farming story on San Diego News Network.
“It’s very much hands-on science,” adds Peterson, who spends countless hours trying to mimic conditions for optimal species growth and spawning, from testing water and its food levels to monitoring weather temperatures. . . And if you ask Peterson’s colleague, Matt Steinke, who works on the engineering side of things, the sustainability factor is huge. “If you’re eating aquacultured shellfish, you are supporting an industry that is so sustainable it will feed your great-grandchildren. Every pound of aquacultured product is a pound that is not coming out of over-burdened and collapsing wild supplies.”
For more on the Agua Hedionda Lagoon business follow the link.
[Link: San Diego News Network]
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