Power plants along the Hudson River in New York collectively withdraw 1.2 trillion gallons of water from the river each year, killing hundreds-of-millions of eggs, larvae, and juvenile fish of several species.
The battle over fish kills caused by power plants dates back to the landmark Storm King Mountain legal case and the resulting Hudson River Settlement Agreement (HRSA). Under the 1980 settlement, Consolidated Edison agreed to abandon its plans for a hydroelectric power plant at Storm King Mountain in exchange for environmentalists’ agreement to not immediately force the utility to install closed cycle cooling technology, which would have eliminated 95% of the fish kills, at its existing power plants.
Riverkeeper and other organizations have been working to require that power plants sited along the Hudson River reduce their destruction of aquatic life since the HRSA expired in 1991.
Entrainment: Takes place when small organisms, such as eggs and larvae, are sucked into a power plant’s cooling system along with the massive withdrawal of cooling waters from a water body.
Impingement: Occurs when larger fish (and other aquatic organisms) are trapped against the screens that filter large debris from the intake structures during cooling water withdrawal.
Once-Through Cooling: Water is drawn into the power plant from a local body of water to absorb heat and is then discharged back into the water body at an elevated temperature.
Closed-Cycle Cooling: In a closed-cycle wet cooling system, cooling water is circulated first through the plant to absorb heat, then through cooling cells to evaporate heat to the atmosphere and condense steam back to liquid to be recirculated through the plant. A closed-cycle dry cooling system uses radiator-type coils to transfer heat to air passing over the coils.
For more information contact:
Kyle Rabin, Director Peter Hanlon, Research and Policy Analyst Tel: 212-726-9161 info@NewEnergyChoices.org
