Untold costs as a battle unfolds

The battle over the proposed Poseidon desalination plant is beginning to ring all too familiar.

Following City Council approval last week of the controversial $250-million proposal, the desalination project still has a long road to travel before it is even close to a starting point. First it has to go before the State Water Resource Board, then on to the State Lands Commission before finally winding its way to what promises to be its biggest governmental hurdle: the California Coastal Commission. Aside from that official (albeit not straight) path, Poseidon officials still have to convince officials in Costa Mesa to allow them to run a pipeline through Huntington Beach’s southeastern neighbor.

And then there are the legal battles, first with Huntington Beach officials over a utility tax and then, if the plant gets all its other approvals, with environmental activists who already say they are considering their own lawsuits.

The coastal commission. Lawsuits. Environmentalists versus developers. Just when Huntington Beach is finished with the decades-long battle over preserving Bolsa Chica, the Poseidon desalination plant appears poised to fill the void.

It is to this city’s detriment that another lengthy battle over development seems assured. While the cause during the Bolsa Chica battle was noble ? as is, we think, the fight to keep the desalination plant from rising among southeast Huntington Beach’s already overcrowded industry ? the costs are dire. There is the money that has to be spent, which could be put to much better causes. (Poseidon officials said they spent $6 million and $7 million to get their project past the City Council.) There is the time that city and state staff members will have to spend researching the issue. And there is the focus and attention that the fight will demand. What other important issues will disappear in its shadow?

At this point, there is little any of us can do but watch as the Poseidon story continues to unfold. But we should watch it warily.