After hearing from residents, representatives of environmental groups and even a Hermosa Beach councilmember, the Manhattan Beach City Council unanimously decided at the Feb. 16 council meeting to send a letter opposing the proposal to build a desalination plant just north of the city at the NRG plant off Vista del Mar in El Segundo.
The West Basin Municipal Water District has proposed the plant as an alternative source of water during the drought, a facility they say would provide 10 percent of their water demand.
The council had asked staff to write a letter of opposition in October but held off on sending it after West Basin asked them to wait until the environmental study had been completed.
However, after learning that the study would be released in April, the council decided to move forward.
“The City strongly opposes the West Basin Desalination plant given the opportunities that are available for recycled water and the aggressive timeline which appears to undermine the public process,” the letter said. “The potential health and safety impacts of a major industrial desalination plant directly adjacent to our residents is not acceptable particularly given that other alternatives have not yet been fully vetted.”
West Basin sent out a statement from General Manager Rich Nagel immediately following the decision.
“It’s unfortunate that the Manhattan Beach City Council took a position without hearing the facts and findings from our Ocean Water Desalination Environmental Impact Report (EIR), which is currently being drafted,” the statement read. “While we appreciate Mayor Burton’s and the City Council’s interest in West Basin’s proposed project, we believe it is too soon to make a decision.”
Members of the public and the council said that a plant would be expensive, energy inefficient and that the byproduct would hurt marine life. West Basin has said that the plant would produce brine as part of the process.
A couple of El Porto residents said their neighbors were strongly opposed. One resident, Bob Sievers, questioned why other sites that had been discussed early on had been rejected.
“We just finally got a little bit of green space over there,” said Sievers. “Now they want to take it away.”
There were references to Measure O, the proposal to drill for oil in Hermosa Beach, which was defeated by Hermosa Beach voters last year. The Manhattan Beach council passed a resolution opposing the measure before the election.
“The last time I was here was to speak about oil,” said Dency Nelson of Hermosa Beach. “As we know, things like oil and desal plants know no city borders.”
Mayor Mark Burton also picked up on the oil comparison.
“With Measure O, we were all against it because there was the slight possibility of a leak,” he said. “Here, 20 million gallons of brine will create dead zones off the shore.”
Hermosa Beach Councilmember Hany Fangary said that he was speaking on his own behalf, but that Hermosa Beach was also examining the proposal.
“The fact that you’re ahead of the game before the plan is approved is the right approach,” he told the City Council. “I’m looking forward to working with you.”
Manhattan Beach Councilmember Amy Howorth said she had been undecided about whether to send the letter, but was convinced by Fangary and another speaker who praised the council for not waiting until the Environmental Impact Report was done.
“Sometimes small cities think we have no power, that we should wait and see,” said Howorth. “Then something big happens and we say, ‘Why didn’t we do something sooner?’”
Although West Basin representatives who attended the meeting said they hadn’t yet made up their minds whether to pursue the plant, the general consensus among the council and the environmental groups, which included Heal the Bay, LA Waterkeeper and the Surfrider Foundation, appeared to be that they had.
“If you go through with the EIR, it will be a done deal,” said Burton. “We need to be very aggressive defending the interest of our residents.”
In addition to signing off on the letter, the council also decided to hire an Environmental Impact Report expert of its own. ER
