Cal Am wants references to desal struck from CPUC hearing
SACRAMENTO — In the ongoing battle over estimates of how much water the Monterey Peninsula will have and will need, for the next few decades, California American Water Co. is asking a state regulator to strike language in a motion by Marina Coast Water District and the city of Marina relating to the company’s hoped-for desalination project.
The motions are part of a hearing before the California Public Utilities Commission, or CPUC, that could decide the fate of Cal Am’s long-sought plan to build a sizable desalination plant in Marina.
Cal Am, Marina Coast, the city of Marina, Monterey One Water, Public Water Now and the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District filed briefs with the CPUC late last month declaring what the estimated supply of water from all sources would be by 2050, and what the peninsula’s demand will be by that time.
The outcome of the current CPUC hearing is key to whether the desal plant will be needed, and consequently will be permitted. Administrative Law Judge Robert Haga will examine the April 30 motions, render an up-or-down proposed ruling and ship it off to the five-member CPUC to vote on.
All but one filing in the hearing, called Phase 2, contain evidence that Monterey One Water’s Pure Water Monterey Expansion recycling project will produce more than enough water to meet the demand for the next three decades. The one counter filing was Cal Am’s.
Phase 1 was a decision by the CPUC last year approving a water purchase agreement between Cal Am and Pure Water Monterey Expansion, which is slated to be completed by the end of next year. The Phase 2 hearing is to determine which supply and demand estimates are accurate.
Cal Am’s filing last week is asking Haga to strike portions of the public agencies’ briefs critical of the desal proposal and references to conditions the California Coastal Commission placed on the project in its conditional approval. Cal Am is arguing that any discussion of a desal plant is outside the scope of the Phase 2 hearing that is focused solely on supply and demand.
“The attempt of (Marina Coast) and Marina to address issues beyond the scope of Phase 2 is inconsistent with the Public Utilities Code and the Commission’s Rules, prejudices the parties and wastes the time and resources of the parties and the Commission,” Cal Am stated in last week’s motion. “Accordingly, (Cal Am) respectfully urges the assigned Administrative Law Judge to strike the portions of the Phase 2 briefs of (Marina Coast) and Marina.”
Opponents argue that the state of the desal project is highly relevant to any discussion of supply and demand along the peninsula.
The Coastal Commission’s conditional approval last year listed some 20 conditions that Cal Am must meet in order to receive final approval, conditions opponents say Cal Am will be hard pressed to meet. One of those conditions is the CPUC’s approval. Cal Am had received prior approval from the CPUC for a 6.4 million-gallons-per-day desal plant, but then downsized it to 4.8 million-gallons-per-day plant it put before the Coastal Commission. The downsized plant is new application that needs approval from the CPUC.
“It seems Cal Am wants to side-step the uncomfortable conversation of whether the desalination plant is actually needed.” said Dave Stoldt, the general manager of the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District, whose position is the Pure Water Monterey Expansion will provide all the water needed for the coming three decades. “Further, it seems like the company doesn’t want the CPUC to know what it promised the Coastal Commission in exchange for the heavily conditioned approval to move forward.”
One of the sections of Marina Coast’s brief that Cal Am wants struck is the water district’s allegation that “Cal Am fails to provide any assessment of the (desal project’s) availability and reliability and fails to include any evidence confirming that the desal project has the permits and legal approvals required for it to move forward.”
Meanwhile, the Pure Water Monterey Expansion is on track to add another 2,250 acre-feet – 730 million gallons – to the Monterey Peninsula’s water supply.
“This additional recycled water will expand the total (Pure Water Monterey) water supply to 5,750 acre-feet per year (1.87 billion gallons),” Stoldt said. “That’s over half of the Peninsula’s drinking water and all the water supply necessary for housing, jobs, growth and drought for decades.”
Paul Sciuto, general manager of Monterey One water, said the expansion project is the fruit of “dedicated policy makers, staff, consultants, and contractors” and that the end result “will be the climate resilient water supply this community has long envisioned.”
It could be a couple of months still before Haga rules on the briefs, and when he does, it is likely to generate more briefs either in support of or against his ruling.
