Bill Text: CA SB42 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Coastal resources: once-through cooling.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-02-01 - Returned to Secretary of Senate pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [SB42 Detail]
Download: California-2009-SB42-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: SB 42 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 14, 2009
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 18, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Senator Corbett
JANUARY 6, 2009
An act to add Division 20.6 (commencing with Section 30970) to the
Public Resources Code, relating to coastal resources.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 42, as amended, Corbett. Coastal resources: seawater
intake. once-through cooling.
(1) Under the Warren-Alquist State Energy Resources Conservation
and Development Act, the State Energy Resources Conservation and
Development Commission (energy commission) has the exclusive
authority to certify a site for the construction of a new thermal
powerplant or the modification of an existing thermal powerplant and
related facilities.
The California Coastal Act of 1976 provides for the planning and
regulation of development, under a coastal development permit
process, within the coastal zone, as defined. The act regulates
various types of developments within the coastal zone, including
industrial developments and thermal electric generating plants.
This bill would prohibit a state agency, as defined, from
authorizing, approving, or certifying a new powerplant or industrial
facility, as defined, that uses once-through cooling, as defined
, or the expansion of an existing open seawater intake at a
powerplant that uses a once-through cooling system unless necessary
to connect to an alternative system. The bill would, on and after
January 1, 2015, prohibit a powerplant from using once-through
cooling, as defined. The bill would also prohibit a state agency from
authorizing, approving, or certifying the use of a new, expanded, or
existing open seawater intake for the purpose of desalination,
unless certain findings are made during a public hearing .
The bill would require the State Water Resources Control Board (state
board) to adopt and implement a schedule to phase out
once-through cooling at all powerplants other than those specified
a statewide policy on once-through coo ling
at coastal and estuarine powerplants . The bill would also
require each regional water board to review and issue a powerplant's
national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permit for
its once-through cooling system within 6 months of the expiration of
that permit.
(2) Under existing law, the state 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 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.
Existing law establishes the State Coastal Conservancy in the
Natural Resources Agency and authorizes the conservancy to acquire,
manage, direct the management of, and conserve specified coastal
lands and wetlands in the state. Existing law establishes the Coastal
Trust Fund (fund) in the State Treasury to receive and disburse
funds paid to the conservancy in trust. Existing law authorizes the
conservancy to expend the moneys in the fund for purposes of the San
Francisco Bay Area Conservancy Program and for other specified
purposes.
This bill would require a powerplant that uses once-through
cooling, as defined, to pay a specified fee. The bill would
also require an industrial facility that uses open seawater intake to
pay a fee. The bill would require the state board to
collect the fee and to deposit the revenues from the fee in the
Marine Life Restoration Account, which the bill would establish in
the fund. The bill would require the conservancy to administer the
account and expend the would authorize
money in the account to be expended, only upon
appropriation by the Legislature to , by
the conservancy and the state board to reimburse their costs of
administering the fee, to by the
conservancy for specified projects and activities that address the
impacts of once-through cooling processes, and to
by the state board to provide grants to powerplants
currently using once-through cooling, as specified.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) Nineteen coastal powerplants located in California use
once-through cooling water intake systems. The majority of those
powerplants are located on bays and estuaries where there are
sensitive fish nurseries and populations of many important species,
including species important to the commercial and recreational
fishing industries.
(b) Coastal powerplants in California collectively withdraw up to
16.3 billion gallons of water per day.
(c) The United States Environmental Protection Agency has
determined that there are multiple undesirable and unacceptable
environmental impacts associated with once-through cooling
technology.
(d) The Ocean Protection Council and the State Lands
Commission have passed resolutions has passed a
resolution expressing concern about the devastating impacts of
the once-through cooling process on California's aquatic ecosystems
and calling for an expeditious phasing out of once-through cooling
systems.
(e) Various studies have documented the harm caused by
once-through cooling processes, and it is estimated that once-through
cooling systems kill over 79 billion fish and other marine organisms
annually in California waters.
(f) Once-through cooling systems needlessly kill fish, larvae,
plankton, and other marine organisms as they are drawn into
once-through cooling water intake structures. Once-through cooling
systems also kill larger marine species such as sea lions, seals, and
turtles as they become trapped by those structures.
(g) In enclosed bays and estuaries, such as Alamitos, Santa
Monica, San Diego, and Elkhorn Slough, the environmental harm of
once-through cooling systems is often more pronounced due to the
cumulative impacts caused by the concentration of several powerplants
in biologically critical areas.
(h) The environmental devastation caused by once-through cooling
systems is counterproductive to the California Ocean Protection Act
(Division 25 (commencing with Section 35500) of the Public Resources
Code), the Marine Life Protection Act (Chapter 10.5 (commencing with
Section 2850) of Division 3 of the Fish and Game Code), and other
state efforts to ensure healthy aquatic ecosystems and productive
fisheries.
(i) Steam boiler plants using once-through cooling systems tend to
be less efficient and have higher rates of greenhouse gas emissions
than new generation sources.
(j) Protection of marine life in California's coastal waters,
prompt phasing out of once-through cooling systems, and restoration
of damage caused to California's aquatic environment are in the best
interest of the state.
SEC. 2. Division 20.6 (commencing with Section 30970) is added to
the Public Resources Code, to read:
DIVISION 20.6. SEAWATER INTAKE
CHAPTER 1. DEFINITIONS
30970. The following definitions govern the interpretation of
this division:
(a) "Account" means the Marine Life Restoration Account
established pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 30972.
(b) "Capacity utilization rate" means the ratio between the
average annual net generation of power, in megawatthours, and the
total net capability of the facility to generate power, in megawatts,
multiplied by the number of hours during the year.
(c)
(b) "Conservancy" means the State Coastal Conservancy
established pursuant to Section 31100.
(d)
(c) "Fund" means the Coastal Trust Fund established
pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 31012.
(e)
(d) "Industrial facility" includes, but is not limited
to, a desalination facility. "Industrial facility" does not include a
scientific research facility or a recreational facility, such as an
aquarium.
(f)
(e) "Once-through cooling" means a system that uses an
open seawater intake to pump seawater from an ocean, estuary, or bay
and then discharges the water after only one cycle of cooling.
(g) "Open seawater intake" means a conduit for seawater intake
that is above the seafloor. "Open seawater intake" does not include a
well, gallery, or any other subseafloor seawater intake.
(h)
(f) "Powerplant" means an electrical generating
facility, including a nuclear thermal powerplant.
(i)
(g) "Seawater" means saltwater that resides in the
ocean, an estuary, or a bay within the waters of the state.
(j)
(h) "State agency" means the state or any
an agency or department of the state.
(k)
(i) "State board" means the State Water Resources
Control Board established pursuant to Section 175 of the Water Code.
CHAPTER 2. OPEN SEAWATER INTAKE
ONCE-THROUGH COOLING
30971. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a state agency
shall not authorize, approve, or certify any of the
following:
(a) A
a new powerplant or a new industrial facility that first
commences operation on and after January 1, 2010, if that powerplant
or industrial facility would use once-through cooling.
(b) The expansion of an existing open seawater intake at a
powerplant, unless the expansion is necessary to convert a
once-through cooling system to an alternative cooling system.
30971.1. A state agency shall not authorize, approve, or certify
the use of a new, expanded, or existing open seawater intake for the
purpose of desalination unless it has made, during a public hearing,
supported by substantial evidence in the record, the following
findings: ____.
30971.5. (a) On and after January 1, 2015, a powerplant with an
average annual capacity utilization rate of 20 percent or less from
the year 2006 to the year 2008, inclusive, shall not use a
once-through cooling system.
(b)
30971.5. (a) The state board shall
expeditiously, and no later than March 1, 2010, adopt and implement a
schedule to phase out once-through cooling at all
powerplants other than those described in subdivision (a).
statewide policy on once-through cooling at coastal and
estuarine powerplants in consultation with the California Energy
Commission and other relevant agencies.
(c)
(b) Each regional water board shall review and reissue
a powerplant's national pollutant discharge elimination system
(NPDES) permit for that powerplant's once-through cooling system
within six months of the expiration of that permit, or by July 1,
2010, for those permits expired as of January 1, 2010. The permit
shall address only the following:
(1) The use of open seawater intake for cooling purposes by a
powerplant.
(2) The incorporation of the phaseout dates for once-through
cooling pursuant to this section.
(3)
(2) The full implementation of cooling water intake
structure requirements in Section 316(b) of the federal Clean Water
Act (33 U.S.C. Sec. 1344 et. et seq.),
as that section read on October 18, 1972, and consistent with the
best professional judgment of the regional water boards, until
applicable final regulations are adopted and implemented by the
United States Environmental Protection Agency.
CHAPTER 3. SEAWATER INTAKE FEE
ONCE-THROUGH COOLING FEE
30972. (a) Each operator of a powerplant using a once-through
cooling system shall pay to the state board a fee that is based on
the amount of seawater, as determined by the state board, that is
removed by the powerplant for purposes of once-through cooling.
(b) An industrial facility, approved by a state agency after
January 1, 2010, using an open seawater intake shall pay to the state
board a fee that is based on the amount of seawater, as determined
by the state board, that is removed by that facility's open seawater
intake.
(c)
(b) The fee for seawater taken by an open
seawater intake or used for once-through cooling shall be
____ ($____) per gallon assessed on a per
gallon basis, and the amount of the fee shall be set by the state
board in consultation with the conservancy, by regulation, in
accordance with the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative
Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 commencing with Section 11340) of Title 2
of Division 3 of the Government Code) .
(d)
(c) The state board shall collect the fee in a manner
determined by the state board and, after payment of its
administrative costs of collection, deposit the revenue from the fee
in the Marine Life Restoration Account, which is hereby created in
the fund.
(e)
(d) The fees required pursuant to this division shall
not be considered as a mitigation for the impact associated with
once-through cooling or open seawater intake, and shall not diminish
an obligation to account for or mitigate the impact pursuant to any
other law.
30973. (a) The account shall be administered by the conservancy.
(b) The moneys in the account shall be expended, only upon
appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act, as
follows:
(1) By the conservancy and the state board, to reimburse the costs
of administration and implementation of this division.
(2) By the conservancy, for direct expenditure and award of grants
for projects and activities, as authorized by the Ocean Protection
Council, that address the negative impacts of once-through cooling
systems on the mortality of all forms of marine life and marine
habitat.
(3) By the state board to provide grants to powerplants currently
using once-through cooling if the powerplant can certify that it is
repowering for more efficient, cleaner generating equipment that does
not use once-through cooling.
