Posted on 05/11/2010 11:39:00 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
Three power plants on the San Diego County coastline face major changes — from shuttering operations to building new cooling towers — in the wake of a landmark ruling by California’s water-quality officials to protect sea life.
The State Water Resources Control Board last week decided to phase out once-through cooling for seaside power plants because the process kills more than 2.6 million fish and 19 billion fish larvae annually, according to the agency. The policy may be contested by energy companies concerned about the cost of compliance, including fitting new infrastructure into existing facilities.
Ratepayers statewide will pay the bills for retrofitting, which could reach into the billions of dollars.
The rules make California a national leader in efforts to get rid of once-through cooling, which many ocean experts consider a great threat to coastal marine life. Environmentalists generally support these measures designed to meet the federal Clean Water Act despite concerns that loopholes might allow some plants to operate without significant improvements for years past compliance deadlines.
“There are many moving parts here, but the more simple arithmetic is that if you are not sucking in basically 18 billion gallons a day and sterilizing that water, hopefully that results in a healthier ecosystem,” said Alfred Wanger, deputy director of the California Coastal Commission in San Francisco.
The commission was one of several agencies that helped the water board write the new rules, which affect 19 power plants in the state. The effort took five years and produced a schedule that shows when each facility is due to comply. Most of the work is supposed to be done within a decade, although one site has until 2025 to complete its transformation. Dates were set to avoid disruption of California’s power supply.
The list includes the Encina Power Station in Carlsbad, the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station north of Oceanside and the South Bay Power Plant in Chula Vista.
“It will have the result of retiring a very high portion of the coastal, once-through cooled power plants,” said Steve Hoffmann, regional president for NRG Energy, which owns the Carlsbad facility.
The Encina plant has dominated Carlsbad’s coast since 1954. To keep it running, the company would have to make significant changes.
“We have to conform with this new water policy by the end of 2017,” Hoffmann said. “We either have to put in closed-loop cooling, or we have to have a way of screening marine life from our intake, which is technically very difficult.”
NRG is looking to build another power plant — the Carlsbad Energy Center — on the site of the Encina facility. Some city leaders and residents have opposed the proposal, saying it doesn’t need to be on the coast if it doesn’t use seawater for cooling.
The California Energy Commission is evaluating NRG’s application.
In Chula Vista, the South Bay Power Plant already was on its last legs before the state water board finalized its rules. Two of its four main power-generating units have been shut down by the operator, Dynegy Inc. of Houston, and a hearing is set for this week to determine whether the plant should be shuttered before year’s end.
Dynegy spokesman David Byford said the company plans to operate the plant until the Independent System Operator no longer deems it a “must-run” facility, which means it’s needed to balance the power grid.
The state water board set Dec. 31, 2011, as the end date for once-through cooling at the South Bay plant.
“We would need to invest in cooling towers and … it’s just not something that is going to happen at South Bay,” Byford said.
Still, a lawyer for the advocacy group San Diego Coastkeeper said annual “must run” declarations by the Independent System Operator could extend the life of that facility and others, even if they don’t change their cooling method.
“Part of the problem with this policy is there’s no certainty for the communities that have to live with the harmful impacts of these plants as to when those impacts will be abated,” said Jill Witkowski, a lawyer for Coastkeeper.
Linda Sheehan at the California Coastkeeper Alliance in Fremont said some elements of the new rules could be stronger, but she’s pleased with the package.
“Almost 40 years after Congress called for an end to the impacts of these cooling systems, California has taken positive action to ensure that we enjoy a healthy environment and sustainable energy,” she said.
Sheehan said California’s new approach is comparable to New York’s, which she considers a national model.
Whether it makes a big difference “just depends on how it’s implemented,” Sheehan said.
Officials at Southern California Edison also will closely watch how the rules play out, particularly at the company’s San Onofre nuclear plant.
Michael Hertel, environmental policy director for Edison, said it’s too soon to say whether the company will challenge the rules in court. He does have serious concerns about trying to squeeze a new cooling system onto land the company leases at Camp Pendleton.
“Any reasonably objective party looking at it will see that putting in cooling towers at San Onofre is infeasible and does more environmental harm than good,” he said.
Hertel said the price tag is too high — $3 billion by his estimate — and that Edison already has spent roughly $150 million to alleviate the same environmental concerns that the water board’s new policy addresses.
The good news for Edison is that the agency plans to study San Onofre’s situation before making a final decision on that site. If the current schedule stands, Edison has until December 2022 to comply.
One more reason California is Spiraling
downward
Meet the State Water Resources Control Board Leadership
http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/about_us/board_members/index.shtml
The free market will be blamed when there are rolling brownouts
Can’t they just buy power from Arizona, oh, wait.
If they want electricity all they have to do is just plug something into the wall socket.< /sarcasm >
Mexifornia = Summer, hot, need AC, oops nope eco nuts shut down power station.
Refrigeration for foodstuffs, oops nope eco nuts shut down power station
Gotta charge the Prius to get to work, oops nope eco nuts shut down the power station.
But, rest assured Mexifornians the sea life is safe from the nasty warm filtered water discharged from the power stations. So live well and save those whales for future Japanese fish markets.
Wait till the EPA gets going on its carbon regulation programme.
Not a very bright-looking lot are they? Either they have little-to-no business experience or they are not proud of it if they have. They seem to epitomize everything that is wrong with government. I wonder if they can tell their ar**s from their elbows.
Not a very bright-looking lot are they? Either they have little-to-no business experience or they are not proud of it if they have. They seem to epitomize everything that is wrong with government. I wonder if they can tell their ar**s from their elbows.
those folks in Silicon Valley had better be stocking up on the “D” batteries...
CA is committing Statewide Seppuku, and yet the band plays on and when the facts o life hit the regular CA residents they will continue to elect low grade, venal morons who will continue to make their lives worse and worse.
Cripes, just so long as the Leftist Loonies stay in their Ecotopia and don’t migrate to other states...sheesh..
Take them off of the grid. Make them responsible for ALL of their own energy. See what happens.
They all come from places that consider sea otters people too.
Fixed that.
Are members of the Water Resource Control Board living under water and counting all the fish and larva BEING KILLED by those nasty Power Plants???? Hmmmm? Just curious, I’ve known the state is full of fruits, nuts and communists. Just curious about the number of killed fishies and larvae.
Look, I am fairly pro-nuclear. I don’t understand the whole situation, but I do think that the once-through cooling is a bad idea. Water in a reactor is super hot, and I don’t think that putting sterilized water into the sea is a good idea to support marine life.
Of course, this decision comes at a time when California is going anti-power with its global warming policies, but I can’t find fault with this particular decision.
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