Environmental group LandWatch San Luis Obispo County is challenging in the courts the decision of the California Coastal Commission to allow the US Army Corps of Engineers and other local agencies to construct test beach wells for the proposed Cambria desalination project.
LandWatch alleges that there are no data to support the agencies’ contention that there will be no environmental impact from the well drilling – ten boreholes up to 150 ft (50 m) deep and nine pvc-cased wells on Santa Rosa State Beach. It also challenges the right of the federal Corps of Engineers to exemption from the environmental review required by California environmental law.