SB 387, as introduced, Wright. Coastal resources: once-through cooling.
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 require the state board to authorize the process of once-through cooling, as defined, on existing powerplant facilities to the extent allowable by federal laws, including any federal regulations adopted by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 13193.10 is added to the Water Code, to
2read:
(a) The state board shall authorize the use of an
4once-through cooling system for an existing powerplant facility
5to the extent allowable by federal law, including any federal
6regulations adopted by the United States Environmental Protection
7Agency, pertaining to once-through cooling.
8(b) For purposes of this section, “once-through cooling” means
9a system that uses an open seawater intake to pump seawater from
10an ocean, estuary, or bay and then discharges the water after one
11cycle of cooling.
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