Nearly three years after the environmental review process was initiated for the Carlsbad desalination plant, a final environmental impact report has been completed and published by the city of Carlsbad.

The environmental impact report's (EIR) positive conclusions mean the project is moving closer to a 2006 beginning construction date.

"They'll be no significant unavoidable impacts," said Peter MacLaggan, senior vice president of Poseidon Resources. "That means we can move this project forward in a responsible fashion."

In October 2004, Poseidon and Carlsbad entered into a water purchase agreement, which provides the city with a quality- and locally controlled supply of water. This agreement followed a decision by the City Council to adopt a policy to ensure the reliability of the city's water.

"It's (the plant) a critical component of the infrastructure necessary to achieve their water supply goals," MacLaggan said, adding that reaching water-supply goals will aid in keeping biotech companies in the area, and also will help the San Diego County Water Authority's goal for desalination plants to make up 15 percent of the county's total water supply. The Carlsbad plant, once on line, will account for 8 percent of the county's water.

During the EIR process, 13 specific impact areas were studied including cultural impact, traffic, noise and air quality.

"For this project, what was most significant were the impacts to marine biology," MacLaggan said. According to MacLaggan, for every two gallons of salt water taken from the ocean, one gallon of salts will be returned following the desalination process. The impact of these salts re-entering the ocean was studied for three years by the Scripps Institute of Oceanography in cooperation with Poseidon.

Although the EIR took nearly three years to reach completion, MacLaggan said that was the expected timetable considering data needed to be collected, filed and prepared in report form.

"In the regulatory environmental process there are considerable hoops that you have to jump through," he said, explaining that the City Council also needs to issue a series of local permits to site a facility on sensitive coastal areas, state agencies also have to issue permits, and a public review process must be completed.

According to Matt Adams, vice president of government affairs for the San Diego chapter of the Building Industry Association, approximately three years is a normal period for an EIR process to reach completion and public comment is essential. However, he does not agree that three years is needed.

"We're looking for regulatory efficiency," Adams said, adding that he believes the EIR process has morphed into a way for those who oppose a project to halt its progress or shut it down completely. EIR documents were originally a compilation of the project, its impact and what's being done to prevent that impact, he said.

"What is frustrating is how it's been a tool for litigation," he said, mentioning that the current San Diego condo-conversion case is an example of people using the process as means to shut down condo conversions. However, there are ongoing discussions at the state level regarding reform to the EIR process, which would limit challenges when it's clear no impact will be experienced.

With the EIR complete, the next steps toward commencing construction lean on a workshop held by the city of Carlsbad Planning Commission, the commission's review of the land permits in January, and the City Council's certification of the EIR and land permits in February. In early 2006 Poseidon will request for proposals for contractors to engineer the $270 million facility.

Once completed in 2008, the plant will stay on line for at least 30 years and provide Carlsbad with 25 million gallons of water per day. This will be the first desalination plant of its kind in the county, although a possible plant in San Onofre has been proposed.