This is a great article because Senior Vice President of Poseidon Resources in Carlsbad, Mr. Peter MacLaggan, admits that for the first 12 years or so of a 30-year bond, there may not be any return on investment for Poseidon’s investors, and it may actually cost them more along the way.
And it’s REALLY big news that San Diego County Water Authority MAY have to come up with the $350 million in subsidies if there is some complication with MWD.
THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS. What does that look like? Is that a football field full of money? Whose jobs will they cut at the water agencies if they have to pay up? Or will they just sell us more water to cover their costs?
Even the Taxpayers for Common Sense, a group which generally aligns with business interests is circumspect. From the article:
Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense in Washington, D.C. said he had no qualms with the company making a dollar on a badly needed commodity like drinking water in dry southern California, but he was wary of the tax-exempt financing, the subsidies, and the lack of access to detailed advance information about the company’s costs and profits.
“Our feeling is essentially the financing, the repayment of the costs of construction, all of that needs to be very transparent and very public,” said Ellis, “because otherwise you’re asking the ratepayers and (San Diego) county to buy a pig in a poke, they don’t really know what they’re getting and what the potential costs may be.”
I’m not sure how I personally feel about Big Business making a buck off me on something like drinking water, but I do know I’m sick of greedy companies taking advantage of average folks, our natural resources, and still asking our government agencies for subsidies.
Read the full article:
Poseidon's Desalinization Plant: Dream Water Supply or Draining the Pacific and Taxpayers?
And see the current timeline of this ill-conceived project.
I have NO IDEA why the San Diego County Taxpayers Association supports this project. It will be an ugly scar on their credibility in the years to come.
ReplyDeleteI agree Sara, but in their defense, I don't think Poseidon has been completely transparent on the costs and their business plan.
ReplyDelete...And the story continues.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/may/26/water-plant-developer-wants-payments-pledge/
Taxpayer subsidies for Poseidon's desal project are at least "$14 million" annually... possibly almost double this.
Tomorrow: "The water authority board will discuss the Carlsbad desalination project and two financial incentives that could reimburse Poseidon as much as $450 per acre-foot for the project, at a meeting Thursday in Kearny Mesa."