Clean Water Act Regulations affecting Electric Utilities

Julie HewittUS EPA, Office of Water

October 22, 2010BPC/NARUC/NESCAUM Workshop

Two CWA Rules in Development

• Steam Electric Effluent Limitations Guideline (ELG) – Revision of 1982 rule

• §316(b) Cooling Water Intake Structures (CWIS) Regulation for Existing Facilities– Rule responding to court decisions

Steam Electric ELG

• Steam electric category is a subset of all electric generating activities

• Includes fossil (coal, oil, gas) and nuclear-fueled power plants, but not fuels such as biomass, tires, etc.

• Detailed review of steam electric ELG completed in 2009– Focus on coal-fired plants: 500 plants (700 are nuclear, oil and

gas)– Most toxic pollutants are released by flue gas desulfurization

(FGD) wastewater & ash ponds

Coal combustion wastewater

Simplified Diagram of Selected

Wastes at a Coal-fired Power Plant

• Current ELGs regulate suspended solids and oil & grease from ash ponds & FGD discharges

• Unregulated pollutants present in ash ponds, FGD wastewater, & landfill leachate– Metals

• Mercury, selenium & arsenic are of most concern • Bioaccumulative

– Nutrients, especially nitrogen (nitrates, ammonia)– Total dissolved solids, chlorides

Schedule for SE ELG

• Survey to collect technical and financial information for analysis is underway

• Agency intends to issue proposed regulation in mid-2012

• Rule will have effective date 60 days after publication– Dischargers must have NPDES permit– NPDES permits are for 5 years– Compliance likely will have to occur by next permit

renewal cycle

§316(b) CWIS Regulation

• Original rule issued in 2004– Portions remanded to EPA by 2nd Circuit– Portions upheld by Supreme Court in Entergy

decision

• 1,260 existing facilities collectively withdraw 226 billion gallons of water per day

• Main environmental impacts– Impingement and entrainment– Thermal discharges may also be significant for some

waters

Cooling Water Basics

Larger fish unable to swim away are impingedimpinged against the screen and usually die.Smaller organisms that pass through the screens are entrainedentrained in the cooling system and also die.

Fixed Bar Racks

Traveling Screens

Once through cooling uses water only once as it passes through a condenser to absorb heat and is then discharged.Closed-cycle coolingClosed-cycle cooling reuses water by reuses water by recycling it through recirculating recycling it through recirculating systems or towers.systems or towers.

Schedule for §316(b) Rule

• Also effected through NPDES permits and 5 year cycle

• Agency’s intent is to issue final rule by July 2012