Bill Text: CA AB2071 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Once-through cooling policy: extension.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-03-16 - In committee: Hearing postponed by committee. [AB2071 Detail]
Download: California-2019-AB2071-Introduced.html
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 2071
| Introduced by Assembly Member Muratsuchi |
February 04, 2020 |
An act to add Section 13193.5 to the Water Code, relating to water pollution.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2071, as introduced, Muratsuchi.
Once-through cooling policy: extension.
Under existing law, the State Water Resources Control Board and the 9 California regional water quality control boards regulate water quality in accordance with the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act and the federal Clean Water Act. Under the act, the state board is required to adopt specified state policies with respect to water quality as it relates to the coastal marine environment, including a policy requiring new or expanded coastal powerplants and other industrial installations using seawater for cooling, heating, or industrial processing to use the best available site, design, technology, and mitigation measures feasible to minimize the intake and mortality of all forms of marine life. Pursuant to that policy, the state board has adopted a policy to phase out once-through cooling for powerplants.
This bill would
prohibit the state board, on or after January 1, 2021, from granting to an operator of a powerplant additional time for complying with the once-through cooling policy adopted by the state board if specified conditions are met.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 13193.5 is added to the Water Code, to read:13193.5.
On or after January 1, 2021, the state board shall not grant to an operator of a powerplant additional time for complying with the once-through cooling policy described in Section 2922 of Title 23 of the California Code of Regulations if the powerplant meets both of the following criteria:(a) The powerplant is situated on a site that contains existing coastal wetlands within the coastal zone.
(b) A local agency, nonprofit organization, or nongovernmental land conservation organization has been awarded a grant pursuant to Section 80137 of the Public Resources Code on or before July 1, 2020, for the purposes of acquiring all or a portion of the site of the powerplant to develop parklands and restore
wetlands on the site.
