BILL NUMBER: SB 42 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
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 , and
making an appropriation therefor .
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 42, as amended, 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
once- through cooling , as defined,
a new open ocean intake, or the expansion of an
existing open ocean seawater intake
at a powerplant that uses a once-through cooling system unless
necessary to connect to an alternative system . The bill
also 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, app
roving, 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. 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 Water Resources Control
Board (state 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
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 , 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 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
would continuously appropriate the moneys in the account
expend the money in the account only upon
appropriation by the Legislature to the conservancy and the
state 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 , and to the s tate board to
provide grants to powerplants currently using once-through cooling,
as specified .
Vote: majority. Appropriation: yes 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 expressing concern about the devastating
impacts of the once-through cooling process on California's aquatic
ecosystems and calling for an expeditious
phaseout 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 phaseout phasing out of
once-through cooling systems, and restoration of damage caused to
California's aquatic environment is 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.
(b)
(c) "Conservancy" means the State Coastal Conservancy
established pursuant to Section 31100.
(c)
(d) "Fund" means the Coastal Trust Fund established
pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 31012.
(d)
(e) "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 .
(e)
(f) "Once-through cooling" means a system that uses an
open ocean seawater intake to pump
seawater from an ocean , estuary, or bay and then
discharges the water after only one cycle of cooling.
(f)
(g) "Open ocean seawater
intake" means a conduit for seawater intake that is above the
seafloor. "Open ocean seawater intake"
does not include a well, gallery, or any other subseafloor seawater
intake.
(g)
(h) "Powerplant" means an electrical generating
facility, including a nuclear thermal powerplant.
(h)
(i) "Seawater" means saltwater that resides in the
ocean , an estuary, or a bay within the waters of the
state.
(i)
(j) "State agency" means the state or any agency or
department of the state.
(j)
(k) "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. 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 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.
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) 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).
(c) 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) 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. 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
30972. (a) From January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2014,
inclusive, each 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) 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.
(b)
(c) The fee for seawater taken by an open seawater
intake or used for once-through cooling shall be
fifteen one-hundred-thousandths dollars ($0.000015)
____ ($____) per gallon.
(c)
(d) 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) 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) Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code,
the The moneys in the account are
continuously appropriated, without regard to fiscal year,
shall be expended, only upon appropriation by the Legislature in
the annual Budget Act, as follows:
(1) To By the conservancy and the
state board, to reimburse the costs of administration and
implementation of this division.
(2) To 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.