Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/category/news/water-power-waste/)
The Santa Ana Regional Quality Control Board is meeting this morning to hold a public hearing on Poseidon Water’s request for a permit renewal for their facility, which would be built on 12 acres of a power plant and produce 50 million gallons of water per day, according to water district staff.
Shaky leases, financial uncertainty and limited manpower threaten Orange County food banks, but even so they help feed families and seniors on limited incomes and homeless people.
All three county landfills should stay open, the panel said, to prevent costs from increasing and additional traffic congestion in communities near still-operating garbage dumps.
The city is also charging residents millions of dollars in fees on trash bills and transferring it to the city general fund, which pays for police and other services. Councilwoman Michele Martinez said that violates state law.
Academics, advocates and activists met for a panel discussion at UC Irvine to hash out the pros and cons of a proposal to build a desalination plant in Huntington Beach, with environmentalists once again warning it would damage marine environments and raise water bills.
New concerns are being raised about whether the city has been illegally overcharging residents and businesses for trash collection and using the money for other services like police, firefighting, and parks.
The Orange County Water District’s Board of Directors has several committees that meet outside of public view. And several of them appear to be doing so illegally, according to open government expert Terry Francke.
Citing a “deceptive campaign” to raise the rates, the Yorba Linda Taxpayers Association, served recall papers against board members Gary Melton and Robert Kiley during last week’s water district meeting.
No one knows for sure whether living near a NPP can cause cancer, but on Sept. 8 the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) terminated a study designed to find out.
Orange County government’s top executive plans to retire in September, less than two-and-a-half years after he was promoted to the high post.