A proposal to change the design of a long-planned desalination project and its accompanying pipelines won unanimous approval from the Carlsbad City Council on Tuesday… Environmental attorney Marco Gonzalez told the council during Tuesday's meeting that two coastal protection groups he represents — San Diego Coastkeeper and Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation — will likely file suit.
Gonzalez argued that the new pipeline routes, among other things, constitute substantial changes to the original plans and should be the subject of a supplemental environmental document… The plant, which has been working its way through the city and state review processes for several years, is proposed for a site that's roughly in the center of the Encina Power Station… Plans call for the desalination equipment to produce up to 50 million gallons of drinking water daily using seawater from the power plant's cooling system.
Project proponents have said that the proposed plant will give the arid San Diego region a secure source of locally produced drinking water, while opponents have said that the desalination equipment will prolong the life of an aging, water-cooled power plant and cause environmental harm.
But Gonzalez said that the revised pipeline routes included new stretches of roadway in south Carlsbad and thus should be the subject of additional environmental assessments. He said the council should be "ashamed" of how much the desalination project has changed since it was first approved in 2006.
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/carlsbad/article_8c9f6629-da9f-581c-bd6e-97c49b257358.html
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