Bill Text: CA AB248 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Energy: powerplants: Ventura County.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-02-03 - From committee: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [AB248 Detail]

Download: California-2013-AB248-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 248	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 19, 2013

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Gorell

                        FEBRUARY 6, 2013

   An act  relating to energy.   to add and
repeal Section 321.9 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to
energy. 



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 248, as amended, Gorell. Energy: powerplants: Ventura County.
   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 (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.
   This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to
enact subsequent legislation that  would require the Public
Utilities Commission and the Independent System Operator, in
consultation with specified entities, to submit to the Legislature,
 on or  before January 1, 2015, a report on policies,
recommended legislative actions, and incentives necessary to
accomplish specified objectives related to once-through cooling
powerplants in Ventura County while preserving and enhancing electric
system reliability in the Counties of Santa Barbara and Ventura.

   This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to
the necessity of a special statute for the County of Ventura. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:  no
  yes  . State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.   (a)    The
Legislature finds and declares all of the following: 
   (1) 
    (a)    Ventura County possesses unique
environmental resources including miles of coast lines, working
agricultural lands, valleys, coastal mountains  ,  and the
distant Channel Islands. These resources create six distinct
microclimates and provide unique habitat, flora, fauna, and marine
resources for the various species that share the county.
Additionally, they provide a wide variety of recreational
opportunities and the base for a superior quality of life in the
communities beyond Ventura County. 
   (2) 
    (b)    California should promote public
policies that create jobs and foster economic growth while
maintaining quality of life. Ventura County needs policies that
preserve its global competitiveness and  allows business
  allow businesses  to grow, invest, and create
jobs. These policies should encourage innovation while promoting
economic prosperity. Ventura County has a unique blend of industries
to protect and promote. The employment base is secured by
agriculture, tourism, international trade, and manufacturing
industries, with growth occurring in the high-tech, medical, science,
and service sectors. All of these industries need affordable,
reliable electricity to prosper. 
   (3) 
    (c)    In 2010, the State Water Resources
Control Board (SWRCB) adopted its Statewide Water Quality Control
Policy on the Use of Coastal and Estuaries Waters for Power Plant
Cooling, commonly referred to as the "Once-Through Cooling Policy."
Two generation facilities in Ventura County are subject to the
Once-Through Cooling Policy. 
   (4) 
    (d)    To comply with the Once-Through Cooling
Policy, an owner or operator of an existing powerplant must reduce
intake flowrate at each unit, at a minimum, to a level commensurate
with that which can be attained by a closed-cycle wet cooling system,
by facility-specific deadlines prescribed in the policy.
Alternatively, if an owner or operator demonstrates that compliance
with this standard is not feasible, that owner or operator must
reduce impingement mortality and entrainment of marine life for the
facility to a comparable level to that which would be achieved under
the first standard, using operational or structural controls, or
both. 
   (5) 
    (e)    Pursuant to the Once-Through Cooling
Policy, the SWRCB impaneled a Statewide Advisory Committee on Cooling
Water Intake Structures (SACCWIS), including representatives from
the Public Utilities Commission, the State Energy Resources
Conservation and Development Commission, the Independent System
Operator, the California Coastal Commission, the State Lands
Commission, the State Air Resources Board, and SWRCB staff, to advise
the SWRCB on the implementation of the policy to ensure that the
implementation schedule takes into account local area and grid
reliability. 
   (6) 
    (f)    Electricity reliability is critical to
California's economy, security, and stability of modern life. It is
the top priority for California's electrical energy policy to
preserve electric reliability and maintain regional system integrity.
Ventura County and Santa Barbara County rely on transmission imports
across a narrow corridor that is at risk of outages caused by
natural disasters, including earthquakes and fires. During these
events, electric reliability in this area depends on service from
existing flexible generation units that are subject to the
Once-Through Cooling Policy. Generation and transmission operation in
California must be monitored and controlled in real time to ensure a
consistent and ample flow of electricity. It is designed with system
redundancies to prevent outages during emergencies, such as fires,
grid failure, or maintenance. 
   (b) It is intent of the Legislature to enact subsequent
legislation that would require the Public Utilities Commission and
the Independent System Operator, in consultation with the SWRCB, the
State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, the
California Coastal Commission, the State Lands Commission, the State
Air Resources Board, and other relevant local and federal
authorities, to submit a report, before January 1, 2014, to the
Legislature on a study and evaluation of what policies, legislative
actions, and other federal, state, and local incentives are necessary
to accomplish, while preserving and enhancing electric system
reliability in the Counties of Santa Barbara and Ventura, all of the
following objectives:  
   (1) To ensure the preservation of Ventura County's environmental
resources, tourism, and economic development by decommissioning the
existing once-through cooling powerplants or by facilitating the
replacement of existing once-through cooling powerplants in Ventura
County with more modern powerplant while reducing visual impacts and
ensuring that sufficient reserve capacity is available in the local
capacity reliability area.  
   (2) To review the potential of acquisition of the properties on
which the once-through cooling powerplants are located by the City of
Oxnard, the County of Ventura, the state, or other responsible
entities for the preservation as a natural resources in the
California coastal zone.  
   (3) To uphold contractual obligations and economic interests of
the current owners and operators of the once-through cooling
powerplants in the Big Creek/Ventura local capacity reliability area.
 
   (4) To modify the cooling technologies at the once-through cooling
powerplants in Ventura County to mitigate impacts on marine
environment, consistent with the Once-Through Cooling Policy and
other existing policies.  
   (5) To identify potential sites in Ventura County appropriate for
once-through cooling powerplants that would not impose greater
environmental, agricultural, or economic impacts, or greater costs to
the electricity ratepayer, as compared to the redevelopment or
replacement of the existing powerplants. 
   SEC. 2.    Section 321.9 is added to the  
Public Utilities Code   , to read:  
   321.9.  (a) On or before January 1, 2015, the Public Utilities
Commission and the Independent System Operator, in consultation with
the State Water Resources Control Board, the State Energy Resources
Conservation and Development Commission, the California Coastal
Commission, the State Lands Commission, the State Air Resources
Board, and other relevant local and federal authorities, shall submit
a report to the Legislature, pursuant to Section 9795 of the
Government Code, on a study and evaluation of the policies,
legislative actions, and other federal, state, and local incentives
that are necessary to accomplish, while preserving and enhancing
electric system reliability in the Counties of Santa Barbara and
Ventura, all of the following objectives:
   (1) To ensure the preservation of the County of Ventura's
environmental resources, tourism, and economic development by
decommissioning the existing once-through cooling powerplants or by
facilitating the replacement of existing once-through cooling
powerplants in the County of Ventura with more modern powerplants
while reducing visual impacts and ensuring that sufficient reserve
capacity is available in the local capacity reliability area.
   (2) To review the potential of acquisition of the properties on
which the once-through cooling powerplants are located by the City of
Oxnard, the County of Ventura, the state, or other responsible
entities for the preservation of natural resources in the California
coastal zone.
   (3) To uphold contractual obligations and economic interests of
the current owners and operators of the once-through cooling
powerplants in the Big Creek/Ventura local capacity reliability area.

   (4) To modify the cooling technologies at the once-through cooling
powerplants in the County of Ventura to mitigate impacts on marine
environments, consistent with the once-through cooling policy and
other existing policies.
   (5) To identify potential sites in the County of Ventura
appropriate for once-through cooling powerplants that would not
impose greater environmental, agricultural, or economic impacts, or
greater costs to the electricity ratepayer, as compared to the
redevelopment or replacement of the existing powerplants.
   (b) Pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, this
section is repealed on January 1, 2019. 
   SEC. 3.    The Legislature finds and declares that a
special law is necessary and that a general law cannot be made
applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the
California Constitution because of the unique environmental resources
that exist in the County of Ventura.