Taking On “Once-Through Killing”
In California
By Linda Sheehan and Angela Haren, California Coastkeeper Alliance

A 1995 study showed that biomass of macrozooplankton in waters off Southern California has decreased by 80 percent since 1951.

Twenty-one coastal power plants in California use environmentally devastating once-through cooling technology. Combined, these plants can withdraw up to 17 billion gallons of seawater — and the life it contains — every day.

But this summer, California’s State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) proposed cooling regulations for existing facilities that offer new, stronger protections for aquatic life. California Coastkeeper Alliance spearheaded a broad coalition of groups to speak with a unified voice against the continued use of antiquated technology, including California Waterkeepers, national environmental groups like the Sierra Club and Surfrider Foundation, and environmental justice and fishing groups.

A major hurdle to responding to California’s once-through cooling problems is that no single agency regulates the issue — various government agencies have authority over portions of the problem, but they rarely coordinate. The State Water Board implements federal Clean Water Act regulations, the State Lands Commission leases the land to most power plants and the Energy Commission licenses the plants. California Coastkeeper and its coalition worked closely with these and other agencies to educate them about the devastating impacts of once-through cooling, and provide extensive support for reasonable alternatives that protect both the environment and the reliability of our electricity supply.

California Coastkeeper also worked for a coordinated response by urging the newly formed California Ocean Protection Council and the State Lands Commission to actively address the harmful effects of once-through cooling. In April 2006, both the Commission and the Council adopted separate, unanimous resolutions to phase out once-through cooling, and implement stronger regulations in the interim. Through the resolutions, the top elected and appointed officials in the State — both Republican and Democrat — agreed that once-through cooling causes significant, ongoing, devastating impacts to California’s coastal and estuarine ecosystems, and therefore should be phased out.

These resolutions set the stage for the State Water Board’s proposed policy on once-through cooling, introduced in July 2006. Once again, California Coastkeeper led the way to draft and present comprehensive comments on the proposed regulations. While State Water Board’s proposed regulations fall short of phasing-out once-through cooling altogether, they are a significant step in the right direction — calling for the reduction of the entrainment and impingement of marine life by 90 and 95 percent, respectively. The State Board will consider adopting the policy in early 2007.

California has both the right and responsibility to move beyond the minimum standards outline in the federal Clean Water Act. California Coastkeeper and its coalition will continue to work to ensure that the outdated technology is phased out on a schedule that reflects the state’s strong commitment to a healthy coast and ocean.