Coastal Commission’s Delay of a Hearing on a Desalination Plant
On the national stage, the Democratic primary has been framed as billionaires vs. populists. Right here in Monterey County we’ve had our own drawn-out battle between a big corporation and the people, in the form of California American Water vs.… well, just about everyone else. As Cal Am’s long-awaited desalination plant was poised for final approvals, the people of Marina organized. The California Coastal Commission heard their concerns, and staff invoked environmental injustice as a reason to recommend the commission deny Cal Am’s project. For the first time in its history, the Coastal Commission invited members of the public to testify via video, and people did – overwhelmingly in opposition. The saga ended with a whimper, not a bang, as Cal Am and the Coastal Commission have agreed to indefinitely delay a hearing for now; while we wait on that, the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District is moving forward with its analysis of whether it should proceed with a public takeover of Cal Am. This is democratic politics at its messiest, which is to say, its finest.