[Water_news] 3. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: WATERSHEDS - 1/20/09

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

January 20, 2009

 

 

3. Watersheds –

 

 

Pressure grows on power plants' cooling system

Critics: Method harms marine life

San Diego Union Tribune

 

Ruling a setback for out-of-state crabbers

San Francisco Chornicle

 

 

Sturgeon on the bite in Bay, San Luis

San Francisco Chronicle

 

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Pressure grows on power plants' cooling system

Critics: Method harms marine life

San Diego Union Tribune – 1/19/09

By Mike Gardner

 

SACRAMENTO — Blamed for the widespread killing of marine life, California's coastal power plants are under mounting pressure to abandon an antiquated process that draws in ocean water to cool turbines.

 

The battle has raged from the statehouse to the White House. California agencies are divided, the San Diego County Water Authority is worried, legislation has been introduced in Sacramento, and even the U.S. Supreme Court is preparing to weigh in.

 

Opponents of more controls have warned of higher bills and tighter energy supplies. Water supplies from desalination plants built alongside power generators also could be at risk, they say.

Supporters contend that these cooling systems will continue to disrupt the cycle of life in the sea if left unchecked.

 

“We're taking a look at World War II technology, which is creating great havoc,” said state Sen. Ellen Corbett, a San Leandro Democrat carrying legislation that would force coastal generators to switch to more environmentally friendly cooling systems by 2015.

 

Her bill would impose fees on plants using the process known as “once-through cooling” and would generate $15,000 for every 1 billion gallons of water used by plants. With 16 billion gallons a day flowing through the affected plants, the fees would amount to more than $87 million a year.

 

The fee would be collected from 2011 through the end of 2014 – the last day the cooling system would be permissible under Corbett's measure, Senate Bill 42. The measures probably faces a tough road, given the state's limited energy and water supply. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has not taken a position on the bill.

Nineteen plants along California's coast use once-through cooling, a process that involves piping in water daily and discharging billions of gallons back into the ocean, according to a state report.

 

Those plants generated 20 percent of the state's power need in 2005. However, at such volume and velocity, the cooling practice destroys fish and threatens other marine life, such as harbor seals, sea lions and sea turtles. The ocean's food chain is put at risk by the process, critics say.

 

The state Water Resources Control Board is separately developing a policy to govern ocean-water use at coastal plants, including three in San Diego County: San Onofre, Encina and South Bay, which use once-through cooling.

 

Agencies have dueled over the language for nearly three years with the group that manages the state's power grid, the California Independent System Operator, which is adamant in seeking to minimize restrictions.

 

The state water board is not expected to seek a shutdown of the plants when it releases its policy later this year, said Judie Panneton, a research analyst with the agency. “Banning them is not the focus of our draft policy,” she said. “It's the effect on marine life that we're focusing on.”

 

In Washington, the U.S. Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in a case brought by New York-based Riverkeeper that could determine whether the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency should consider costs as part of requirements to protect sea life when assessing power plants. The decision could steer the incoming Obama administration as it develops policies toward once-through cooling.

 

These challenges to generators come at a time of tight energy and water supplies in the state. With the recession taking a toll, ratepayers might be in no mood to take on higher costs for both.

 

Eliminating once-through cooling at all the plants could cost “as little as around $100 million to as much as $11 billion, depending on how and when the policy is enacted and how the industry responds,” according to the state Water Resources Control Board.

 

Alternatives include dry cooling, a process that relies on air-cooled condensers and fans. Eight plants use that system, but they absorb higher costs.

Cooling towers recirculate the water, reducing demand for more water. All but two inland plants use this process. Another option is to use recycled wastewater, which will be put to the test at a plant near Los Angeles.

 

Southern California Edison, which operates the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, warns that a hasty policy shift could do more harm to the environment. The plant generates enough power for 1.4 million homes.

 

“Sweeping new policy requiring cooling towers could significantly raise customer rates and harm the environment,” Edison said in a statement to water quality regulators. “In our case, SCE would be forced to secure more base-load power at higher customer cost from carbon-emitting fossil fuel plants – increasing local air pollution and adding to greenhouse gas emissions . . . ”

 

Edison says it has acted aggressively to limit damage by its cooling system, including installing a device that pushes fish away from intakes and a system that provides an escape for fish in the pipe. Edison also has launched the nation's largest artificial kelp reef project off the coast near San Clemente.

 

Commercial fishermen, however, contend that power generators should be doing more after decades of destroying marine life and threatening their livelihood by using once-through cooling.

 

“Companies have ignored the fact that it does have a cost. It's just that they're passing the costs along to someone else – us,” said Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations.

 

There is another wrinkle in the ongoing debate. Some desalination plants, which are being aggressively pursued as California continues to face drought , could be located next to power plants.

 

The San Diego County Water Authority, exploring a desalination venture with Edison near San Onofre, is expected to oppose Corbett's measure. The water authority wants to keep its options open to use once-through cooling, or some other system, depending on cost and effectiveness.

“It would potentially severely restrict our options to develop these plants,” said Bob Yamada, a water resources manager at the authority. “You could potentially eliminate a significant new water supply.”

 

Poseidon Resource's fledgling venture in Carlsbad – the most prominent of the county's desalination plants – will not use once-through cooling. Nor will the Carlsbad Energy Center, proposed by NRG West. #

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/jan/19/1n19plants23188-no-headline/?metro

 

Ruling a setback for out-of-state crabbers

San Francisco Chornicle – 1/18/09

By Bob Egelko, staff writer

 

(01-17) 18:20 PST -- A state appeals court has upheld California's power to protect Dungeness crabs by revoking the licenses of crabbers who fished Bay Area waters and then set their pots off the Oregon coast in violation of a three-state conservation agreement.

• REDDING / Pilot safely lands small plane on road 01.20.09

 

The three fishermen, all Oregon residents, argued that California exceeded its constitutional authority by punishing them for fishing that was legal in Oregon. But the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco said Friday the state is entitled to regulate fishing in its own waters by withholding licenses from those whose activities threaten the supply of crabs in the region.

 

Dungeness crab fishing in California, Oregon and Washington is regulated by laws in each state that reflect the three-state agreement to manage the fishery. The season normally starts on Dec. 1 in the zones that stretch from Mendocino County to mid-Oregon, and from there to the Canadian border. In a separate zone that extends south to San Mateo County, the season starts Nov. 15 to supply the Bay Area market with Dungeness crabs at Thanksgiving.

 

The dates for one or more zones are sometimes delayed because of fishery conditions. When that happens, anyone who fishes legally in another zone must wait at least 30 days after the other zone reopens to start fishing there.

 

In 2005, opening dates in the two northern zones were postponed until Dec. 31 because tests showed development of a high-quality crab harvest was later than usual. The three Oregon men began their crab fishing in San Francisco waters, where the season opened on schedule, in late November and early December, then moved their operations to Oregon in January without waiting 30 days as the rules required, the court said.

 

The state Fish and Game Commission revoked their California licenses in December 2006. The fishermen appealed, saying that California, by enforcing the 30-day waiting period, was prohibiting conduct that was legal in Oregon and was interfering with interstate commerce, which under the Constitution can be regulated only by Congress.

 

But the appeals court, upholding a San Francisco judge's ruling, said the state's enforcement affects only fishing in California and applies equally to residents of any state.

 

Any hardship suffered by an out-of-state crabber who has to wait 30 days later than others to start fishing in Oregon or Washington "is outweighed by the legitimate benefit of a policy promoting the conservation of a sustainable Dungeness crab fishery in California," said Presiding Justice James Marchiano in the 3-0 ruling.#

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/17/BA0715CFUE.DTL&feed=rss.bayarea

 

Sturgeon on the bite in Bay, San Luis

San Francisco Chronicle – 1/17/09

By Tom Stienstra, outdoors writer

 

(01-17) 18:27 PST -- In the best success by kayak-anglers in years, a flotilla of eight kayakers all caught the elusive sturgeon last weekend. The fish averaged five feet long, pulled the boats on a "magic sleigh ride," and when finally brought alongside, all but a few were released.

 

This occurred in the China Camp/Rat Rock area of southwest San Pablo Bay, known as the southwest apex of the Sturgeon Triangle. The anglers used a mix of ghost shrimp and grass shrimp for bait.

 

"We saw more sturgeon last weekend than we have seen in the last two months combined.," said Keith Fraser at Loch Lomond Live Bait in San Rafael.

The apparent key to the bite was an excellent cycle of outgoing tides that bottomed out with minuses. The next sequence of similar tides starts arriving in the coming week, with excellent prospects from Thursday through the following Tuesday (Jan. 27), best each day in the afternoon. I'll probably end up fishing this cycle on Saturday afternoon.

 

One lucky angler, Cliff Silva, reported landing five sturgeon in the 4- to 5-foot range last weekend, and released them all.

 

Learn how: Fraser's one-a-year seminar, "Sturgeon Fishing Bay Area Waters," one of the best fishing seminars in the business, is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. Saturday (Jan. 24) at the Marin Rod & Gun Club, located at the western foot of the Richmond Bridge. $5. (415) 456-0321.

 

Now get this: In a shocking catch at San Luis Reservoir near Los Banos, a 6-foot, 8-inch sturgeon (that's about 140 pounds) was caught and released. The lucky angler was Earl Taniguchi of Fowler. The sturgeon was probably pumped 40 years ago as a fingerling out of the delta and arrived to San Luis via the California Aqueduct.

 

It's not the trout: Scientists blame climate change for killing off frogs in high-elevation lakes in California, not trout, according to a new study published in Herpetological Conservation and Biology. The key is that frogs need water to live in for two to four straight years, so when small lakes dry up in late summer from lack of snowmelt, the tadpoles and frogs can die. Additionally, a weakening of the frogs' immune system leaves them vulnerable to chitrid fungus. Regardless, because DFG has not completed its own environmental studies, virtually all of the DFG's aerial trout stocks in Sierra wilderness are being stopped.

 

Commercial deer poaching: Fish and Game wardens said they arrested three men, including the owner of Samthong Meat Market in Sacramento, for illegally killing deer and selling the meat. In a raid at another suspect's house, game wardens said they found 19 squirrels and packaged bluegill.#

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/18/SP4I15B4PQ.DTL

 

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