Section 316(b) of the Clean Water Act requires power plants to use the “best technology available” to minimize their adverse impacts on fish and other aquatic life.
In 2004 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a rule that would determine how existing power plants would be regulated based upon Section 316(b). A national coalition of environmental groups and a coalition of six states sued EPA because the rule set weak standards and allowed power plants to seek variances from using the “best technology available”: closed cycle cooling. Energy companies claimed that the cost of closed cycle cooling would be unreasonable, despite the destruction of billions of fish and other aquatic life forms occurring at hundreds of power plants around the country.
In April of 2009 the U.S. Supreme Court issued a narrow ruling on the case. The court held that the federal Clean Water Act does not forbid—nor does it require—EPA from comparing costs with benefits when regulating power plant cooling water intakes. EPA will soon begin the process of rewriting its rule for power plants and their effects on aquatic life.
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
