BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1180
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ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1180 (Bradford)
As Amended April 28, 2011
Majority vote
WATER, PARKS & WILDLIFE 12-0APPROPRIATIONS 16-0
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|Ayes:|Huffman, Halderman, Bill |Ayes:|Fuentes, Harkey, |
| |Berryhill, Blumenfield, | |Blumenfield, Bradford, |
| |Campos, Fong , Gatto, | |Charles Calderon, Campos, |
| |Roger Hern�ndez, Hueso, | |Davis, Gatto, Hall, Hill, |
| |Jones, | |Lara, Mitchell, Nielsen, |
| |Lara, Olsen | |Norby, Solorio, Wagner |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Requires the State Water Resources Control Board
(SWRCB), at or by its first regularly-scheduled meeting after
January 1, 2012, to advise the Los Angeles Department of Water
and Power (LADWP) as to whether the SWRCB's Statewide Water
Quality Control Policy on the Use of Coastal and Estuarine
Waters for Power Plant Cooling (Policy) will be modified to
allow LADWP more time to achieve compliance.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires, in accordance with the Federal Clean Water Act
(CWA), that the location, design, construction, and capacity
of new and existing cooling water intake structures on power
plants reflect the best technology available (BTA) to minimize
the harm or killing of fish, shellfish and other aquatic
organisms.
2)Designates the SWRCB as the statewide water quality planning
agency and authorizes the SWRCB to implement provisions of the
federal CWA, including provisions related to BTA requirements
for existing power plants employing once-through cooling
(OTC).
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, negligible costs to the board, whose OTC policy
already requires consideration of such an implementation plan.
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COMMENTS : The Federal CWA Section 316(b) requires that the
location, design, construction, and capacity of new and existing
cooling water intake structures on power plants reflect the best
technology available to minimize the harm or killing of fish,
shellfish and other aquatic organisms. In California, the SWRCB
is the agency authorized to implement provisions of the CWA,
including Section 316(b).
On May 4, 2010, the SWRCB adopted the Policy which became final
on October 1, 2010. In explaining the need for the Policy, the
SWRCB's environmental document explained that power plants
utilizing OTC can cause adverse impacts to the aquatic
environment when organisms are trapped against a facility's
intake screens (impinged) and cannot escape, or when they suffer
contact injuries that increase mortality. Likewise, smaller
organisms, such as larvae and eggs, can be drawn through a
facility's entire cooling system (entrained) and subjected to
rapid pressure changes, chemical treatment systems, and violent
sheering forces, only to be discharged along with the now heated
cooling water and other facility wastewaters. The final Policy
recognized the importance of protecting the beneficial uses of
the state's coastal and estuarine waters while also ensuring
that the electrical power needs essential for the welfare of the
citizens of the state are met.
The Policy acknowledges there are no applicable nationwide
standards for implementing CWA Section 316(b) for existing power
plants and establishes technology-based measures to reduce the
harmful effects associated with cooling water intake structures
on marine and estuarine life. The Policy applies to the state's
19 existing power plants (including two nuclear plants) that
currently employ OTC. Under the Policy, "closed-cycle wet
cooling" has been selected as BTA. Unlike OTC, which draws cool
water and living organisms from the ocean and then discharges
warm water back into it, closed-cycle wet cooling recirculates
the same water but uses cooling towers or other means to reduce
its temperature for reuse.
Under the SWRCB Policy, a Statewide Advisory Committee on
Cooling Water Intake Structures (SACCWIS) was created to ensure
that implementation plans and schedules established by the
Policy are realistic and will not cause disruption to the
state's electrical power supply. The SACCWIS includes
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representatives from the California Energy Commission,
California Public Utilities Commission, California Coastal
Commission, California State Lands Commission, California Air
Resources Board, California Independent System Operator, and the
SWRCB. One task of the SACCWIS is to review the implementation
plans (IPs) and schedules that power plant owners and operators
were required to submit by April 1, 2011, to ensure that the
deadlines in the Policy account for local area and grid
reliability, including permitting constraints. The SACCWIS must
report to the SWRCB with recommendations no later than October
1, 2011. The SWRCB may then direct staff to amend the Policy,
if needed. The SACCWIS will continue to meet and provide annual
reports to the SWRCB until the Policy has been fully
implemented.
On April 1, 2011, LADWP submitted its IP to the SACCWIS. In
that IP, LADWP requested to be allowed to replace its OTC units
on an extended schedule at a sequenced "pace of two repowers per
decade" based on a unit-by-unit rather than a facility basis
with the final unit coming off-line in 2035, providing there are
no delays in the process. Environmental groups, on the other
hand, have maintained that there are 40-50 years of marine life
impacts due to OTC use in California and that has caused
adjacent ecosystems to suffer a long history of entrainment and
impingement. They have previously urged the SWRCB not to change
the final Policy which, among other provisions, gives LADWP
until 2020 to comply.
This bill requires the SWRCB, at no later than its next
regularly scheduled public meeting following January 1, 2012, to
consider LADWP's implementation plan and any recommendation of
the SACCWIS and to direct staff to make modifications to the
Policy, if appropriate. This bill does not direct the SWRCB to
a particular conclusion but provides LADWP with some certainty,
for planning purposes, as to when a decision will be made.
Analysis Prepared by : Tina Cannon Leahy / W., P. & W. / (916)
319-2096
FN: 0000644
AB 1180
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