SALINAS, Calif.- The man accused of taking down the Monterey Peninsula regional desalination water project speaks out on what legal actions he's taking and what's next for Monterey's water woes.
"Its just simply unfair and there has been a conspiracy to try and keep me quiet. Well that day is gone," said former Monterey County Water Resources Agency Board Member Steve Collins.
It's a Central Coast controversy we've been following for over a year and it could jeopardizing the Peninsula's future water supply. Last June, the Center for Investigative Action told you, Collins, who led the push for the project, also worked for the company RMC Water and Environment that eventually won the rights to manage it.
A few months prior, the Salinas Valley Water Coalition sent a letter concerned that Collins, who was the board director for the Monterey County Water Resource Agency, was also being paid by the company ultimately contracted to manage the project. This launched several investigations and forced Collins out of the agency. It also put plans on hold to figure out a new water source.
Now, in more than a hundred pages, Collins explains why he's taking the fall for a failed desalination plant project, stemming from allegations of a conflict of interest.
"Once the board and senior staff started down this path of 'uh oh' there's a potential problem here. You need to take care of this Steve. And my response was, take care of what?" said Steve Collins.
Collins used to work for RMC, the company hired by the county to manage the project. He claims the evidence he turned over to a civil court judge who's hearing his $25 million dollar lawsuit against the county, shows he recused himself from every vote regarding RMC. He said that his contracts with the company were common knowledge.
"They have fully known of my activities fully approved of my activities and led my activities and I have evidence to show that," Collins said.
He said when questions were raised about the conflict of interest, instead of standing up and backing what the county and it's agencies did, Collins said certain supervisors got scared and made him a sacrificial lamb.
"I have described myself as political road kill. I'm not going to speculate on why several supervisors decided why I was expendable and why the water project could be thrown over a cliff," Collins said.
But Collins said the regional desal water project would still work, permits are still good, and the project was funded.
"I think there are people on the peninsula who would love to have me working on these water projects again. I was betrayed by the board of supervisors," Collins said.
It's important to mention of the fact that Collins is facing criminal charges of grand theft and conflict of interest in a different business contract he had with Ocean Mist Farms. He will be back in court for that in October.
Central Coast News also called to each supervisor and we're waiting to hear back on their opinion on the case. Collins filed the lawsuit on Tuesday and when they're ready, we will give them the opportunity to comment.
The project stems from the fact that CalAm needs to have a plan before 2017 to reduce the amount of water it pumps from the Carmel River. They have a three pronged approach moving forward. But even that is not without conflict. The county is suing them for not having a public component to the project. There are still two other desal projects being pushed to cities on the Peninsula.
