(Technical Advisory Committee) meeting at OCSD on June 18, when many noted personalities on the beach contamination issue met at OCSD under the tutelage of RWQCB representative Ken Theisen. Lorraine White from the CEC was there, but did not give her conclusions, instead exhorting people to wait for the release of the report in a few weeks. She wanted to make sure that people would actually read the report. She did somewhat coyly suggest that the results "were not outrageous, but interesting," and the study would be out in three weeks, looking at what relationship the AES plant would have on the beach. Apparently the CEC is doing the study, but AES is paying for it. As has been suggested in the past, there seems to be an offshore source for the elevated bacterial readings at 6N and 9N. Observers in the audience brought up the subject of bacteria in the sand as suggested by the expert independent review panel of the OCSD Beach Contamination Study. The independent review panel brought up the possibility of bacteria concentrating in beach sand from an offshore source, and reconstituting, which could be a factor in the beach contamination issue, and should be studied more thoroughly. An unfortunate casualty of this TAC meeting seems to be the TAC itself, which was dismissed with no further meetings scheduled. Too bad. Things were getting interesting, with some heated verbal confrontation expressed at the meeting.

Since Poseidon will affect the discharge from the AES plant by concentrating whatever is in the discharge, I suggest the Planning Commission defer its decision on the EIR until after they have at least looked at this CEC study. That's the least they can do, in my opinion.

The Huntington Beach tourist-based economy depends on clean beaches, and if AES could be contributing to the problem, let's see the studies, before any decision is made on Poseidon that may worsen the AES discharge or contribute to the longevity of the AES plant, a dinosaur at best.

2. The effects of the AES entrainment and impingement study ought to be known before a decision is made by the Planning Commission, as suggested by the Coastal Commission. This affects the marine life in the ocean. The AES type of once-through cooling is an outdated method of power plant cooling and has adverse impacts on marine life. Will Poseidon increase the adverse marine impacts? I suspect so, because it will concentrate the discharge and add insult to injury.

3. The effects on the water quality of the grid system should be known, as the desalinated water added to the Orange County water pipes may cause unknown changes to the water chemistry and affect other permit holders like IRWD to lose their permits. Such a scenario was offered up at the last meeting by a sharp observer.

All in all, there are many unknowns, too many to pass an EIR at this time.

It will be wise to attend the meeting tomorrow night, as this issue will certainly continue up the ladder to the City Council and Coastal Commission, and there is no excuse for an uninformed citizenry (nor an uninformed Planning Commission).

Sincerely,

Jan Vandersloot (949) 548-6326

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