Section 316(b) of the Clean Water Act requires National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits for facilities with cooling water intakes. Cooling water intakes affects fish, fish larvae and eggs, crustaceans, shellfish, sea turtles, marine mammals, and other aquatic life. Last year the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a proposed rule for standards for cooling water intakes at all existing power generating and manufacturing and industrial facilities.
EPA has just announced (May 31 and June 1) Notices of Data Availability (NODA) which summarizes data that the EPA has received since that proposal and a discussion of possible revisions to the final rule that EPA is considering. The EPA is looking forpublic comment.
A recent Black and Veatch survey of the electric power industry indicates that over a thrid of utilities expect the impact of the new rule to be significant.
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