Coastal Power Plants and Desalination

Phasing Out Once-Through Cooling

Many of California's coastal and bay-side power plants use an antiquated cooling technology that sucks in over 16 billion gallons of cold seawater per day to cool plant operations.  The State Water Board estimates that the plants' cooling systems kill billions of marine species unlucky enough to be near the intake pipes each year. This "once-through cooling" (OTC) process draws fish, larvae, plankton, and other marine life into the plant, and kills and injures larger marine species such as sea lions and turtles on the intake screens. The plants also pump the heated water back into the delicate coastal and Delta ecosystems, many of which serve as nurseries for marine life. This outdated technology dramatically impacts the health of our ocean.

Debunking the Myth of Desalination

Several private companies have proposed to co-locate ocean desalination plants with existing once-through cooling plants.  Desalination plants that use the same pipes as the power plants would continue to suck in water and kill marine life long after the power plants stop using OTC. Moreover, once the desalinating process is complete, a plant will discharge concentrated brine into sensitive marine habitats.  Desalination is also the most energy intensive source of water available and undermines statewide efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  By contrast, water supply strategies such as increased conservation and stormwater capture and reuse and can be developed swiftly and at relatively low cost, and are consistent with the state’s climate change mitigation goals. The state should also investigate “green” desalination of brackish groundwater using alternative energy sources, and also use less destructive, sub-surface intake systems where ocean desalination is deemed absolutely necessary.

CCKA Is Taking Action

In 2004, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued regulations requiring plants using OTC to reduce their environmental impacts, but their regulations contained illegal loopholes allowing power companies to continue killing marine life.  With CCKA as a named plaintiff, the Waterkeeper Alliance sued in  Riverkeeper v. EPA ("Riverkeeper").  In January 2007, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals found EPA's regulation illegal and agreed with CCKA that after the fact restoration cannot be used as a substitute for using the "best technology available" to avoid killing marine life, a decision later supported by the U.S. Supreme Court. CCKA worked with a broad coalition of fishing, environmental and community groups to ensure completion of a statewide policy to phase out OTC power plants consistent with these decisions, drafting two sets of comprehensive comments in spring and fall 2010 and coordinating stakeholder testimony.  In May 2010 the State Water Board adopted the final OTC Policy to phase out once-through cooling in favor of more modern power technology, and considered and rejected amendments to the final Policy in December 2010.  CCKA will continue to monitor closely the implementation of the Policy, which is ongoing now.

U.S. EPA has released its revised rules for regulating OTC in existing facilities; comments are due July 19th.  These rules are in response to a November 2010 US EPA Settlement Agreement with Riverkeeper regarding rulemaking dates for EPA to set technology standards for OTC at existing facilities under Clean Water Act Section 316(b). EPA agreed to propose standards by March 2011, and after considering public comments, to take final action by July 27, 2012.  CCKA will be developing comments on this important rule.

With approximately 20 desalination plants proposed along the California coast, CCKA is ramping up efforts to ensure that protections are in place to safeguard the health of the marine environment. In March 2011, after more than a decade of persistent advocacy by CCKA and other groups, the State Water Board identified desalination and brine disposal as a “very high priority issue” in its Triennial Review Ocean Plan Workplan and targeted the adoption of a policy to address it by 2012.  In April 2011, CCKA attended the Board’s initial scoping meeting to send a strong message to the Board that the desalination policy must be science-based, address both intake and discharge impacts to the marine environment, and be adopted and implemented swiftly. CCKA will continue to monitor and comment on the policy to ensure desalination impacts are minimized.

A Quick OTC Lesson

Send a message to the EPA to urge them to require "closed-cycle cooling," which prevents the killing of billions of fish and other water species annually.  See the animation below to learn more about OTC.