Ongoing disagreements between Poseidon Water and state regulators over a proposed desalination plant in Huntington Beach have resulted in a March 17 permit hearing being postponed at the company’s request.

Poseidon is seeking the final permit needed, from the state Coastal Commission, before it can finalize contract terms with the Orange County Water District and begin construction on a controversial, $1.4 billion plant that would produce enough drought-proof water for 400,000 people. The hearing slated for next month is now expected in May.

Environmentalists have rallied steadfastly against the plant, arguing that the more costly water is not needed in the north and central parts of the county it would serve, that it would kill marine life unnecessarily, that proposed mitigation for the environmental damage is inadequate, and that the site is vulnerable to sea-level rise.

Mitigation is at least one of the issues that continues to separate Poseidon and Coastal Commission staff. An email sent late Tuesday, Feb. 22, from Poseidon noted two mitigation plans it submitted to staff last week.

“Poseidon is requesting to postpone the hearing to May 2022 so that we can work with the staff on addressing any questions on mitigation measures and any other issues that may still be unresolved that staff has brought up in the past,” Poseidon Senior Vice President Sachin Chawla wrote.

In granting the postponement, the Coastal Commission responded that it had been ready on Wednesday to release the staff report with its recommendation to the commission for the March 17 permit vote.

“As we have discussed, we were ready to publish the staff report today and have discussed its content with you in some detail over the last weeks and months,” commission Senior Deputy Director Kate Huckelbridge responded in a Wednesday email. “We appreciate your request to work with us to address concerns related to mitigation and a number of other unresolved issues, and look forward to setting up additional meetings in the near future.”

The postponement request could signal concern from Poseidon of unwelcomed conditions being proposed by staff — or even a recommendation for denial. Veteran environmental lobbyist Susan Jordan said that anything being proposed by staff was well within the bounds of the commission’s responsibilities.

“The conditions that would be set forward by the California Coastal Commission as required by the Coastal Act are not onerous, they are necessary to protect our coast, safeguard local communities and our natural resources from private interests that would otherwise cause irreparable harm – like (Poseidon’s) desalination plant,” said Jordan, executive director of the California Coastal Protection Network.

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Poseidon has faced a commission staff recommendation for denial before.

In 2007, concerns about damage to marine life prompted Coastal Commission staff to recommended that the commissioners deny a permit for a similarly sized-Poseidon desalination plant in Carlsbad. But the commission voted 9-3 to approve the permit.

In Tuesday’s request for a delay, Poseidon sought to preserve its single postponement allotment, framing the delay as an effort to provide commission staff with more time to study the company’s mitigation proposal. However, Huckelbridge’s response indicated that staff had adequate time and that postponement would count as Poseidon’s sole allotment.