The California State Lands Commission will hold a hearing on Tuesday to consider whether to grant the California-American Water Company a lease to construct and operate slant wells in Marina as part of its proposed desalination project in the area. Marina City Council chambers will open Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. for Marina residents to weigh in during the public comments section of the hearing. Marina is encouraging all interested members of the public to attend and make their thoughts known. For the city of Marina, the hearing, and the decision that follows, will be one in a long battle against what the city feels is a private company intruding not just on the natural beauty where they live, but on their legal rights to the water under them.

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• Monterey County Now (Seaside, Calif.): Column: Another public hearing, another chance for opponents to try to sink Cal Am’s desal project