CARLSBAD ----- A long-proposed plant that would turn salt water into drinking water may be built by union labor under an agreement worked out by the plant's developer and union leaders, officials announced Thursday.

The agreement is expected to be signed today. A noon celebration is planned at the proposed plant site ---- a 4-acre parcel within the Encina Power Station, east of Carlsbad Boulevard.
"It means 700 construction jobs for people in San Diego County, union construction jobs," said Kris Hartnett, business manager for San Diego County Building and Construction Trades Council.
While the agreement helps to nail down working conditions, construction is a long way off.

The plant's proposed developer ---- Poseidon Resources of Connecticut ---- is still in contract negotiations with the region's main water supplier, San Diego County Water Authority. Those talks are expected to continue for months to come, officials have said.

The developer needs an agreement with the water authority because it is the likely purchaser of the more than 50 million gallons of drinking water the plant could produce a day. The water authority needs the developer because the company has a long-term lease on the proposed plant site.

Talks between the two parties stalled for months, but went back on track this spring after the city of Carlsbad and the water authority announced they'd reached a development deal.

In addition to the water agency negotiations, the project faces other hurdles. The plans will need to win approval from the state Coastal Commission among other agencies.

Hartnett said Thursday that Poseidon officials contacted the trade council late last year about creating the labor agreement, which is officially known as a "memorandum of understanding."

Peter MacLaggan of Posedion Resources confirmed this, saying the deal gives Poseidon a guaranteed work force with specialized experience. For example, he said, the plant's design calls for welders to work with specialized stainless steel pipe, which won't corrode as salt water flows through it.

"There's miles of that kind of pipe in the plant," MacLaggan said.

Other agreement benefits include a guarantee that the work force won't strike, he said.

"It's fairly typical when you're looking at large, high-dollar projects ... to enter into a cooperative agreement with labor," he said.

While the labor deal sets employment conditions, including hours worked and benefits, it doesn't guarantee that union members will get all the construction jobs, officials said. For example, while the recently opened Petco Park baseball stadium in San Diego was constructed under a similar agreement, both union and nonunion contractors worked at the job site, Hartnett said.

Contact staff writer Barbara Henry at (760) 901-4072 or bhenry@nctimes.com.
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