Euphlotea, Has It’s Time Come?

I recently interviewed Adam Englund, Euphlotea’s President. We spoke about his vision to build a floating airport to serve San Diego County. I hope you find it as informative as I. Please leave your comments below.

Adam brings three decades of environmental activism, visionary engineering, critical legal analysis and transportation advocacy to his position as the promoter of San Diego’s International Offshore Floating Airport.

Englund’s inspiration was born at the Oceanic Institute in Waimanalo, Hawaii, where, in 1971, a futuristic development project called "Hawaii’s Floating Cities Program" caught his imagination. Eight years later, after graduating from the University of Pacific, Englund wrote his International Law thesis at Cambridge University on the jurisdictional and administrative issues raised by artificial islands and floating cities.

Englund’s vision of oceanic development contingent on environmental protection embraces both the inevitability of open ocean colonization by humans and the consequent need for enlightened regulation. Accordingly, when San Diego’s search for a site for the development of a new international airport found little consensus and even less support for any one land-based alternative, Englund realized that the time for the founding of Euphlotea was upon him.

"We have reached that critical moment in time when real estate values in this region – both in terms of tangible dollars and in terms of environmental preservation and quality of life have exceeded the economic and environmental costs of locating an international airfield in the open ocean," says Englund. "All of a sudden the economic mandate for a world class airport facility has intersected with the existing, practical and cost effective technologies available to build and operate the facility offshore."

Englund’s legal career began in Los Angeles, where he focused on entertainment law; since arriving in Encinitas in 1997, his practice has evolved to general business and intellectual property transactions. In Los Angeles, he also was a leader of environmentally sound transportation initiatives through both public agencies and private organizations.

Englund lives with his wife, Victoria and daughter, Arielle in Encinitas. A former mountain bike racer, he now enjoys surfing, running on and cleaning up the beach.