BILL NUMBER: SB 42 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
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, and making an
appropriation therefor.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 42, as introduced, Corbett. Coastal resources: seawater intake.
(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 an open ocean intake, as defined, a
new open ocean intake, or the expansion of an existing open ocean
intake. The bill also would, on and after January 1, 2015, prohibit a
powerplant from using once-through cooling, as defined.
(2) Under existing law, the State Water Resources Control Board
(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
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 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, from January 1, 2011, to December 31,
2014, a powerplant that uses once-through cooling, as defined, to pay
a specified 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
would continuously appropriate the moneys in the account to the
conservancy and the board to reimburse their costs of administering
the fee and to the conservancy for specified projects and activities
that address the impacts of once-through cooling processes, thereby
making an appropriation.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: yes. 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 expressing concern about the devastating
impacts of the once-through cooling process on California's aquatic
ecosystems and calling for expeditious phaseout 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 phaseout of once-through cooling systems, and restoration of
damage caused to California's aquatic environment is 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) "Conservancy" means the State Coastal Conservancy established
pursuant to Section 31100.
(c) "Fund" means the Coastal Trust Fund established pursuant to
subdivision (a) of Section 31012.
(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.
(e) "Once-through cooling" means a system that uses an open ocean
intake to pump seawater from an ocean or bay and then discharges the
water after only one cycle of cooling.
(f) "Open ocean intake" means a conduit for seawater intake that
is above the seafloor. "Open ocean intake" does not include a well,
gallery, or any other subseafloor seawater intake.
(g) "Powerplant" means an electrical generating facility,
including a nuclear thermal powerplant.
(h) "Seawater" means saltwater that resides in the ocean or a bay
within the waters of the state.
(i) "State agency" means the state or any agency or department of
the state.
(j) "State board" means the State Water Resources Control Board
established pursuant to Section 175 of the Water Code.
CHAPTER 2. OPEN OCEAN SEAWATER INTAKE
30971. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a state agency
shall not authorize, approve, or certify any of the following:
(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 an open ocean intake.
(b) A new open ocean intake that first commences operation on and
after January 1, 2010.
(c) The expansion of an existing open ocean intake.
30971.5. (a) On and after January 1, 2015, a powerplant shall not
use a once-through cooling system that uses an open ocean intake.
(b) An open ocean intake, the use of which is prohibited pursuant
to subdivision (a), shall not be used for any other purpose,
including desalination.
CHAPTER 3. SEAWATER INTAKE FEE
30972. (a) From January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2014, inclusive,
each operator of a powerplant or industrial facility 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 or industrial facility for
purposes of once-through cooling.
(b) The fee for seawater used for once-through cooling shall be
fifteen one-hundred-thousandths dollars ($0.000015) per gallon.
(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.
30973. (a) The account shall be administered by the conservancy.
(b) Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, the
moneys in the account are continuously appropriated, without regard
to fiscal year, as follows:
(1) To the conservancy and the state board, to reimburse the costs
of administration and implementation of this division.
(2) To 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.