BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1180
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Date of Hearing: May 11, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1180 (Bradford) - As Amended: April 28, 2011
Policy Committee: Water, Parks and
Wildlife Vote: 12-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill requires the State Water Resource Control Board, no
later than January 1, 2012, to consider an implementation plan
submitted by a municipally owned power plant in compliance with
the Statewide Water Quality Control Policy on the Use of Coastal
and Estuarine Water for Power Plant Cooling, adopted May 4,
2010, and recommendations made by the Statewide Advisory
Committee on Cooling Water Intake Structures (SACCWIS), if any,
and direct staff to make modifications to the policy, if
appropriate.
FISCAL EFFECT
Negligible costs to the board, whose OTC policy already requires
consideration of such an implementation plan.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale. The author is concerned about the cost to
ratepayers, especially ratepayers of the Los Angeles
Department of Water and Power (LADWP), of having to comply
with board policy that requires the phase out of technology
known as once-through cooling (OTC) used by powerplants. This
bill is intended to require the board to consider an
implementation plan by LADWP that would provide the department
additional time or otherwise flexibility in replacing its
existing OTC facilities.
2)Background. The Federal Clean Water Act requires the
location, design, construction and capacity of new and
existing cooling water intake structures on power plants
AB 1180
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reflect the best technology available to minimize the harm or
killing of fish, shellfish and other aquatic organisms. In
California, the board implements provisions of the act.
Once-through cooling is a cooling technique used at many
California powerplants whereby cold ocean water is flushed
through the powerplant system and returned to the sea as warm
water. On May 4, 2010 the board adopted its Policy on the Use
of Coastal and Estuarine Waters for Power Plant Cooling, which
asserted the significant adverse effects of OTC on marine life
and ecosystems and declared closed-cycle wet cooling as the
best technology available for powerplant cooling. In contrast
to OTC, closed-cycle wet cooling draws cool water from the
ocean and then recirculates it, using the same water to cool
the system repeatedly.
As a consequence of the board's OTC policy, many California
powerplants will need to phase out use of OTC, oftentimes at
great cost. The board's decision has proven especially
controversial in the view of LADWP, which contends, among
other things, that the effects of the policy will fall
especially hard on its ratepayers, who are less wealthy, on
average, that the ratepayers of other California utilities.
3)Related Legislation.
a) AB 1552 (Committee on Utilities and Commerce, 2009) ,
which would have required the board to extend
implementation of its phase out of OTC to December 31,
2031, was held by this committee.
b) SB 42 (Corbett, 2009) would have required the board, by
March 1, 2010, to adopt and implement a statewide policy on
OTC at coastal and estuarine power plants and to set a
per-gallon OTC fee, to be collected from each power plant
using OTC. The bill failed to pass the Senate Committee on
Energy Utilities and Commerce.
4)Support . This bill is supported by the California Chamber of
Commerce, See's Candies and several other commercial
interests.
5)Opposition. The bill is opposed by several environmental
organizations, including the Natural Resources Defense Council
and the Planning and Conservation League, as well as the
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Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations.
Analysis Prepared by : Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081