Yes, desalination is likely the answer to a lot of our water problems (Friday Review-Journal editorial). The biggest obstacle, however, is the California Coastal Commission, a very powerful entity with 12 voting members who are appointed by the governor, the Senate rules committee and the speaker of the Assembly.
These members are not elected. Apparently that kind of power cannot be trusted to the actual people of California. And, of course, California is a one-party state so the commission is loaded and supported by radical environmental activists who seem to vote only one way on any proposed project along the coastline, usually a resounding “no.”
On May 12, 2022, for instance, the commission unanimously voted “no” on a proposal from Poseidon Water to build a $1.4 billion desalination plant in Huntington Beach that would have provided 50 million gallons of water per day. Their cited reasons, among other factors? The high cost of the water and lack of local demand for it, the risks to marine life and the possibility of flooding in the area as sea levels rise.
Of course, the most successful Middle East countries — such as Saudi Arabia, UAE and Israel — all rely on desalination plants. California, by far, gets the largest share of water from the Colorado River. But how can we negotiate with a state that won’t allow common-sense answers to the water problems we all share?
