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Got concerns about Poseidon’s planned desalination plant? Voice them Wednesday

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Residents can voice their opinions Wednesday about the proposal by Poseidon Water to build a desalination plant in Huntington Beach.

The public meeting will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Huntington Beach Central Library, 7111 Talbert Ave.

The State Lands Commission is holding the meeting to hear public concerns as it prepares a supplement to a 2010 environmental impact report on the controversial project.

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The commission said it hopes to glean the public’s views on potential environmental issues and “mitigation measures” that should be included in the supplemental EIR.

The proposed $1-billion desalination facility, which would be built next to the AES power plant at Newland Street and Pacific Coast Highway, has been mired in controversy.

People who support the plant say building a facility that would produce 50 million gallons of salt-free water per day is a logical direction to take in a drought-stricken state as competition for water from the Colorado River intensifies.

Those against the plant fear harm to marine life and the rest of the ocean environment.

Orange County Coastkeeper, a Costa Mesa-based environmental group, said in a news release on Thursday that a supplemental EIR is not enough, and it wants a more expansive report “to evaluate the full impacts of the plant.”

Scott Maloni, the vice president of project development at Poseidon, said the plant is in the final phase of the permitting process.

He said two of the three state agencies that need to sign off on the project have done so — the State Lands Commission and the Santa Ana regional water board — but he added that these approvals would need to be renewed.

The project also needs approval from the California Coastal Commission.

benjamin.brazil@latimes.com

Twitter: @benbrazilpilot

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