The site of a possible $1.5 billion water desalination plant for the city of Huntington Beach is shown along the Pacific Ocean in Huntington Beach, California, U.S., May 11, 2022. Picture taken with a drone.
The site of a possible $1.5 billion water desalination plant for the city of Huntington Beach is shown along the Pacific Ocean in Huntington Beach, California, U.S., May 11, 2022. Picture taken with a drone. Reuters / MIKE BLAKE

California regulators on Thursday denied approval for a $1.4 billion plant to remove salt from sea water, a project criticized on environmental grounds but backed by California Governor Gavin Newsom as a necessary tool to counter a sustained drought.

The California Coastal Commission voted 11-0 to reject the proposal by Poseidon Water, a company controlled by the infrastructure arm of Canada's Brookfield Asset Management, to build the desalination plant in Huntington Beach.

The plant was designed to convert enough Pacific Ocean water into drinking water for 400,000 people, but using a process that staff experts at the commission said would harm marine life and nearby bird habitat while producing water that would be prohibitively expensive for low-income consumers.

The commission experts also said the plant would be vulnerable to flooding from rising sea levels that are expected from human-influenced climate change.

Environmentalists have long campaigned against the plant, saying desalination decimates ocean life, costs too much money and energy, and soon would be made obsolete by water recycling.

Days after the staff recommendation for denial was published last month, Newsom spoke publicly in favor of the project, telling the editorial board of the Bay Area News Group, "We need more tools in the damn tool kit" to produce water for a thirsty state.

Newsom, who is up for re-election this year with the drought on many Californians' minds, appoints four of the 12 voting members of the commission and can remove them at any time. A Democrat who defied many environmental supporters by backing the project, Newsom said rejecting it would be "a big mistake, a big setback," noting California has experienced severe drought in seven of the past 10 years.

The plant would have produced 50 million gallons (189.3 million liters) of drinking water per day, enough for 16% of the homes in the Orange County Water District, where 2.5 million people live.

Poseidon has been trying to get the project built in Huntington Beach, about 30 miles (50 km) south of Los Angeles, for more than 20 years, saying it has spent more than $100 million in the process.

Poseidon has operated a similar plant, the largest in the United States, down the coast in Carlsbad since 2015.

The Carlsbad project, which turns ocean water to drinking water in 90 minutes using a series of filters and reverse osmosis technology, was built on more elevated geography and approved before statewide regulations governing desalination plants came into effect.

The staff report recommending denial noted that projections for sea-level rise were rudimentary when Poseidon first proposed the Huntington Beach facility nearly 25 years ago.

"Since that time, our understanding of the severity and consequences of climate change and sea level rise have grown exponentially," the report said. "By 2050 to 2070, the surrounding area may be flooded regularly."