Description
Coastal permits and community consent for desalination restary
A desalination developer needed approvals to restart a paused project. Global Coalition acted as introducer and curator to align agencies, communities and technical specialists, producing regulator ready submissions and a clear path to consent.

Blocker
Prior permit denials, public opposition, concerns over brine discharge modelling, intake impacts and tribal consultation. Litigation risk threatened schedule and financing.

Mandate
Deliver a stakeholder and permits strategy to secure coastal and discharge approvals, de risk challenges and preserve the construction window within nine months.

What we did

Mapped decision makers and approvals across the California Coastal Commission, Regional Water Quality Control Board, US Army Corps and State Lands Commission, with a permit matrix and timeline.

Introduced EIR and permitting counsel, hydrodynamic modellers and marine ecologists to produce evidence based submissions.

Ran community engagement, tribal consultation and an interagency workshop series to surface constraints and mitigation early.

Optimised intake design and brine dispersion with monitoring plans and adaptive management triggers.

Provided independent assurance on modelling assumptions and compliance controls.

Outcome
Coastal development permit granted with conditions, NPDES discharge permit issued, community benefits agreement signed and a litigation resistant record established. The project moved to procurement on the original schedule.

Keywords
stakeholder engagement, permits strategy, regulator ready submissions, CEQA EIR, coastal development permit, NPDES discharge permit, interagency coordination, hydrodynamic modelling, brine mitigation, community consent, environmental approvals, water security, project unblocker