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Ocean Standards - CWA §316(b) Regulation
COOLING WATER INTAKE STRUCTURES
ONCE-THROUGH COOLING WATER POLICY - ADOPTION AND AMENDMENTS
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On May 4, 2010 the State Water Board adopted a Policy on the Use of Coastal and Estuarine Waters for Power Plant Cooling (Policy). The administrative record for the Policy was approved by the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) on September 27, 2010. The Policy became effective on October 1, 2010 when the California Environmental Quality Act Notice of Decision was submitted to the Secretary of Resources.
The Policy establishes technology-based standards to implement federal Clean Water Act section 316(b) and reduce the harmful effects associated with cooling water intake structures on marine and estuarine life. The Policy applies to the 19 existing power plants (including two nuclear plants) that currently have the ability to withdraw over 15 billion gallons per day from the State’s coastal and estuarine waters using a single-pass system, also known as once-through cooling (OTC). Closed-cycle wet cooling has been selected as Best Technology Available (BTA). Permittees must either reduce intake flow and velocity (Track 1) or reduce impacts to aquatic life comparably by other means (Track 2).
The Policy is implemented through an adaptive management strategy by which the standards can be achieved without disrupting the critical needs of the State’s electrical generation and transmission system. A Statewide Advisory Committee on Cooling Water Intake Structures (SACCWIS) has been established to review implementation plans and schedules and provide recommendations to the State Water Board at least annually. The State Water Board will consider SACCWIS’s recommendations and make modifications to the Policy, as appropriate. The permittees’ NPDES permits will be reissued or modified to conform with the Policy.
Stakeholder Meetings
- Stakeholder Meeting - February 7, 2011 [to be published at this location soon]
- Notice, January 21, 2011
- Presentation
- Questions and Answers
- Participants
Policy Amendments
- State Water Board Meeting on July 19, 2011
- New! Notice of Decision filing – May 17, 2012
- Notice - signed May 17, 2011
- Once-Through Cooling Policy Draft Amendment Fact Sheet
- Draft Staff Report | Revised
- Appendix A - Proposed Policy Amendment
- Appendix B - LADWP Implementation Plan
- Appendix C - Draft Environmental Check List
- Appendix D - Calculations for Worst Case and Other Scenarios
- Change Sheet
- Public Comments »» Response to Comments
- State Water Board Meeting on December 14, 2010
- Notice - October 1, 2010
- Draft Staff Report
- Appendix A – Proposed Policy Amendment
- Appendix B – Draft Environmental Checklist
- Public Comment Letters - Deadline was November 19, 2010
- Draft Responses to Public Comments
Policy Adoption
- Final Policy - October 1, 2010
- Corrections to the Final Substitute Environmental Document [coming soon!]
- Filing of Notice of Decision
- OAL Approval - September 27, 2010
- State Water Board Adoption Meeting – May 4, 2010, Sacramento, CA
- Transcript
- Adopted Resolution
- Board Agenda Item 5 (includes Draft Resolution)
- OTC Policy adopted on May 4, 2010
- OTC Policy Redline Version - Showing Changes from the March 22, 2010 Draft
- Final Substitute Environmental Document (final SED)
- Appendix A – Draft Final Policy (Clean Version)
- Appendix B – Final Environmental Checklist
- Appendix C – Joint Proposal of Energy Agencies (July 22, 2009)
- Appendix D – Final Expert Review Panel Responses (July 31, 2008)
- Appendix E – Entrainment and Impingement Estimates (Steinbeck, July 2008)
- Appendix F – Entrainment and Impingement Estimates, Updated for Delta Plants (Steinbeck, January 2010)
- Appendix G – Final Responses to Public Comments
- Notice of State Water Board Adoption Meeting
- Notice of Adoption Meeting | Revised Notice of Adoption Meeting
- OTC Policy Redline Version - Showing Changes from the Nov. 23, 2009 Draft
- Draft Final Substitute Environmental Document (draft final SED)
- SED Appendices
- Appendix A – Draft Final Policy (Clean Version)
- Appendix B – Draft Environmental Checklist
- Appendix C – Joint Proposal of Energy Agencies (July 22, 2009)
- Appendix D – Final Expert Review Panel Responses (July 31, 2008)
- Appendix E – Entrainment and Impingement Estimates (Steinbeck, July 2008)
- Appendix F – Entrainment and Impingement Estimates, Updated for Delta Plants (Steinbeck, January 2010)
- Appendix G – Draft Responses to Public Comments
- State Water Board Public Workshop - December 1, 2009, Sacramento, CA
- Transcript
- Board Agenda
- Item 8 (includes draft resolution)
- Revised Draft Policy on the Use of Coastal and Estuarine Waters for Power Plant Cooling
- Clean Version
- Redline Version - Showing Changes from the June 30, 2009 Draft
- Public Comments Received by December 8, 2009
- State Water Board Public Hearing on September 16, 2009 in Sacramento
- SWRCB Expert Review Panel - 2008
- SWRCB OTC Expert Review Panel: Comments from Individual Members after the July 8, 2008 Meeting in Sacramento [compiled by M.Foster]. These comments are not included in the "Responses to Questions" as they were not discussed by the rest of the panel (July 31, 2008)
- Final SWRCB OTC Expert Review Panel Responses to Questions Related to Scoping Document: Water Quality Control Policy on the Use of Coastal and Estuarine Waters for Power Plant Cooling, SWRCB/CEPA March 2008 (July 31, 2008)
- Entrainment and Inpingement Estimates (Steinbeck, July 2008)
- Summary of Comments on Scoping Document: Water Quality Control Policy on the Use of
Coastal and Estuarine Waters for Power Plant Cooling [slides] -
By: Michael S. Foster, Project Directory - Moss Landing Marine Labs
- Comments on Scoping Document of April 21, 2008 by Expert Panel Members
- Sarah Abramson - Heal the Bay
- Tim Hemig - NRG Energy, Inc.
- David E. Bailey - Electric Power Research Institute
- John Steinbeck - Tenera Environmental
- Greg Cailliet - Moss Landing Marine Labortories
- Pete Raimondi - UC Santa Cruz
- State Water Board CEQA Scoping Meetings
May 8, 2008 - San Pedro and May 13, 2008 - Sacramento - Symposium - January 15-16, 2008
- Agenda, Abstracts and Speaker Bios
- Presentations:
- Life History Parameters of Common Nearshore Marine Fish – Eric Miller and Charles Mitchell (MBC Applied Environmental Sciences)
- Research on Data and Methods for Once-Through Cooling Impact Assessment – Elizabeth Strange (Stratus Consulting)
- Molecular Identification and Enumeration of Invertebrate Larvae Potentially Entrained by Once-Through Cooling in Elkhorn Slough – Jonathan Geller (Moss Landing Marine Labs)
- The Ichthyoplankton of King Harbor, Redondo Beach, California, 1974–2006 – Daniel Pondella (Occidental College, Vantuna Research Group)
- Assessing the Impact of Entrainment along Open Coasts - John Largier (Bodega Marine Lab, University of California Davis)
- The Why, When and How of Assessing Impingement and Entrainment Impacts – John Steinbeck (Tenera Consulting)
- Ecological Issues in Scaling Restoration to Offset Unavoidable Impingement and Entrainment Losses – Elizabeth Strange (Stratus Consulting)
- Bright Vibrating Screens: Increasing the Detectability of Fish Screens – Joe Cech and Timothy Mussen (University of California, Davis)
- Alternative Cooling Systems Analysis: California's Coastal Power Plants – Tim Havey (Tetra Tech Inc.)
- Issues Associated with Retrofitting Coastal Power Plants – John Maulbetsch (Maulbetsch Consulting)
- Electric Reliability Study – Matt Trask
- Using Salt Water in Cooling Towers – John Maulbetsch (Maulbetsch consulting)
- Implementation of Clean Water Act Section 316(b) – Steve Saiz/Dominic Gregorio (State Water Resources Control Board)
- State Water Board CEQA Scoping Meeting on July 31, 2006 in Sacramento
- State Water Board Workshop on December 7, 2005 in Oakland
- Notice
- Revised Workshop Agenda
- Meeting Transcripts (Disclaimer: This transcript was made from a tape recording. The State Water Board does not guarantee the accuracy of this transcript.)
- Presentations
- Comments
- State Water Board Workshop on September 26, 2005 in Laguna
Questions or Comments about Power Plant Once-Through Cooling Regulation?
- Permitting Issues - Renan Jauregui or phone (916) 341-5505
- Policy Issues - Shuka Rastegarpour or phone (916) 341-5576
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