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With publication of final regulations by the United States Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") in the Federal Register, the rules under Section 316(b) of the Clean Water Act governing the use of cooling water at existing power plants and industrial facilities are effective on October 14, 2014 (the "Final Rule").
Section 316(b) requires that the location, design, construction and capacity of Cooling Water Intake Structures ("CWISs") reflect the best technology available ("BTA") for minimizing adverse environmental impacts. EPA states that the Final Rule will affect approximately 1,065 existing facilities, including 544 electric generators and 509 manufacturers.
The Final Rule applies to existing facilities that withdraw more than 2 million gallons per day of water from the waters of the United States and that use at least 25 percent of this water exclusively for equipment cooling purposes. The Final Rule's requirements address the potential adverse environmental impacts-- impingement and entrainment-- associated with the use of CWISs at existing facilities.
The Final Rule requires a permittee to select one of seven options to meet BTA for reducing impingement mortality. Impingement mortality occurs as aquatic organisms in cooling water meet a facility's intake screens.
The Final Rule sets forth a national BTA standard for reducing entrainment. Entrainment occurs when aquatic organisms are drawn through a facility's cooling water system. The national standard is a process for conducting a site-specific determination of entrainment mitigation requirements at existing CWISs. The EPA's assessment is that there is no single technology that is the BTA for entrainment at existing facilities. Instead, the site-specific determination process considers a number of factors. Site-specific decision-making could lead to a determination by the EPA or by a state permitting authority that entrainment reduction requirements should be based on the incorporation of variable-speed pumps, water reuse, fine-mesh screens, a closed-cycle recirculating system or some combination of technologies that constitutes the BTA for the individual site. Alternatively, the site-specific process could lead to a determination that no additional technologies are required at an existing facility.
The EPA announced the Final Rule in May 2014. (A Day Pitney Alert on May 21, 2014, summarized the key provisions of the Final Rule.) The Final Rule was published in the Federal Register on August 14, 2014, and is effective 60 days following this publication. It is available here.
Day Pitney is sponsoring the upcoming New England Energy Conference and Exposition (NEECE), which is being held on May 17-18 at the AC Hotel by Marriott in Worcester, MA.
Day Pitney Advisory
Lynn Fountain co-authored the article, "The Relationship Between Voluntary and Compliance Renewable Energy Markets," for Pratt's Energy Law Report with former partner and firm client Flossie Davis, Assistant General Counsel with Exelon Corporation.
Evan C. Reese III, Jared P. Ross and Paul N. Belval are participating in the Seventh Annual Two-Day New Developments Conference on Renewable Energy in New England, presented by Law Seminars International and held in Boston, MA on March 12 and 13.
Day Pitney Press Release
Day Pitney Press Release
Day Pitney Press Release
Energy Partner David T. Doot received the Paul E. Nordstrom Service Award from the Energy Bar Association at its 2021 Mid-Year Energy Forum on October 12.
DC Energy partner Joseph H. Fagan was featured in an E&E News article discussing how FERC is weighing proposals from several energy companies that could set a precedent for how the agency will integrate environmental considerations to its oversight of natural gas infrastructure projects going forward.
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This website may use cookies, pixel tags and other passive tracking technologies, including Google Analytics, to improve functionality and performance. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. By using our website, you are consenting to our use of these tracking technologies. You can alter the configuration of your browser to refuse to accept cookies, but if you do so, it is possible that some areas of web sites that use cookies will not function properly when you view them. To learn more about how to delete and manage cookies, refer to the support instructions for each browser (e.g., see AllAboutCookies.org). You may locate Google Analytics' currently available opt-outs for the web here.