SAN DIEGO, Calif.

Officials agree to buy total output of desalination plant

The San Diego County Water Authority announced a tentative agreement Thursday to buy the entire output of what will be the Western hemisphere’s largest seawater desalination plant, clearing a major hurdle for construction to begin.

The plant in Carlsbad will produce 50 million gallons a day, enough to supply about 7 percent of the San Diego region in 2020.

The agreement is subject to approval by the water authority board. Upon the board’s approval, the developer – Poseidon Resources LLC – would sell bonds to finance 82 percent of the project, which is estimated to cost about $900 million to build.

The water authority expects the plant in the north San Diego suburb and a 10-mile pipeline to be completed in 2016.

Desalination has helped quench demand in Australia, Saudi Arabia and other countries lacking fresh water, but it has struggled to catch on in the United States.

The plants can blight coastal landscapes, require massive amounts of electricity and dump millions of gallons of brine back into the ocean that can, if not properly disposed, be harmful to fish.

NEW ORLEANS

Judge OKs settlement over hazardous hurricane trailers

A federal judge gave his final approval Thursday to a $42.6 million class-action settlement between companies that made and installed government-issued trailers after hurricanes in 2005 and Gulf Coast storm victims who claim they were exposed to hazardous fumes while living in the shelters.

U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt ruled from the bench after hearing from attorneys who brokered a deal resolving nearly all remaining court claims over elevated levels of formaldehyde in trailers provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency following hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Roughly 55,000 residents of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas will be eligible for shares of $37.5 million paid by more than two dozen manufacturers.

They also can get shares of a separate $5.1 million settlement with FEMA contractors that installed and maintained the units.

LOS ANGELES

Mars pictures hint planet once had fast-moving stream

The NASA rover Curiosity has beamed back pictures of bedrock that suggest a fast-moving stream, possibly waist-deep, once flowed on Mars – a find that the mission’s chief scientist called exciting.

There have been previous signs that water existed on the red planet long ago, but the images released Thursday showing pebbles rounded off, likely by water, offered the most convincing evidence so far of an ancient streambed. 

Producer behind anti-Islamic video is ordered detained

A federal judge has ordered the man behind a crudely produced anti-Islamic video that inflamed parts of the Middle East to be detained because he is a flight risk.

U.S. Central District Chief Magistrate Judge Suzanne Segal ordered Nakoula Basseley Nakoula held on Thursday afternoon, after authorities said he violated terms of his probation.

Protests have erupted around the Middle East over a 14-minute trailer for the film “Innocence of Muslims” that depicts Muhammad as a womanizer, religious fraud and child molester.

— From news service reports