Posted on February 17, 2011 by William Green
EPA MAY SOON BE ASKING YOU!
On January 21, 2011, EPA published a final information collection request (ICR) as the first step in assessing the benefits of imposing what industry fears to be severe and costly measures to control fish being crushed against cooling water intake screens (impingement) or trapped in the cooling water as it flows through an electrical facility’s cooling water system (entrainment). 76 Fed. Reg. 3883. In early life stages, many fish that support commercial and sport fisheries are small enough to pass through screens installed to prevent the entrainment of larger individuals. The ultimate impact upon fish stocks, caused by the loss of juvenile and larval forms of many fish species, may be incalculable.
BACKGROUND
Long prior to the Clean Water Act and the existence of EPA, much of the nation’s energy needs was met through waterfront electrical facilities with large pipes and pumping systems referred to as cooling water intake structures (CWIS). The 1972 amendments to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act addressed the issues of impingement and entrainment with a single sentence requiring that “the location, design, construction and capacity of cooling water intake structures reflect the best technology available for minimizing adverse environmental impacts.” 33 U.S.C. § 1326(b); CWA § 316§(b). When EPA or an approved state issued a point source discharge permit under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), the permit writer would apply best professional judgment (BPJ) to assure that the CWIS of an electrical facility met that narrative standard in § 316(b) of the Clean Water Act. Some facilities were allowed to offset the presumed impacts upon fish populations with programs designed to restore fisheries such as constructing hatcheries and stocking juvenile sport fish species into nearby waters. Always at issue was the fundamental tension between growing energy needs and the potential impact the CWIS would have upon fish populations.
In 1993, environmental interests filed a citizen suit alleging that EPA had violated the Clean Water Act by failing issue regulations implementing § 316(b). Cronin, et. al. v. Reilly, 93 Civ. 0314 (S.D.N.Y 1993). EPA resolved that case by consent decree (and amendments) which ultimately allowed EPA to perform three phases of rulemaking: Phase I addressing new facilities, Phase II addressing existing facilities, and Phase III which applied to existing facilities not captured within the scope of Phase II. EPA’s Phase I and Phase II rules were challenged by Riverkeeper, Inc., and others, resulting in the Riverkeeper I decision of February 2004 and Riverkeeper II decided in January of 2007. Riverkeeper, Inc. v. EPA, 358 F.3d 174 (2d Cir. 2004); Riverkeeper, Inc. v. EPA, 475 F.3d 83 (2d Cir. 2007).
EPA’s Phase I rule, for the most part, survived judicial challenge. A provision that would continue to allow restoration measures to offset potential losses was struck down as inconsistent with the Clean Water Act. Very little of the Phase II rule survived the Riverkeeper II litigation, with the court remanding the rule back to EPA for another try. A key issue in that case, whether EPA was precluded from weighing environmental benefit against costs in implementing § 316(b), was taken to the United States Supreme Court. On April 1, 2009, a majority of the Court ruled that § 316(b) of the Clean Water Act does not preclude EPA from comparing costs to environmental benefit in determining the best technology available for minimizing adverse environmental impact from cooling water intake structures. Entergy, Inc. v. Riverkeeper, Inc., 129 S.Ct. 1498 (2009).
To date, EPA has not issued its new Phase II rule. In November of 2010, EPA executed a settlement agreement with parties to the original 1993 matter (“Cronin Plaintiffs”) and the Riverkeeper II parties dismissing the cases so long as EPA proposes new Phase II regulations by March 14, 2011, and then issues its final rule by July 27, 2012.
QUESTIONNAIRES
The ICR published January 21, 2011 will ask individuals from U. S. households whether or not they would support policies that would increase their cost of living “in exchange for specified multi-attribute changes” in (a) impingement and entrainment losses, (b) commercial fish populations, (c) long-term populations of all fish, and (d) condition of aquatic ecosystems. EPA estimates that is will poll 9,533 respondents by telephone while another 2,288 will be mailed questionnaires. EPA asserts that statistical analysis will result an estimate of Willingness-To-Pay (WTP) “for the quantified environmental benefits of the 316(b) rulemaking.” In a nation of approximately 312 million individuals, EPA intends to poll less than 12,000 respondents. There is no guarantee that all of those who are asked will participate in EPA’s survey. How this information will translate as support for EPA’s Phase II rule remains to be seen. Another round of litigation come July 2012, when EPA issues its final rule, may be on the horizon.
Written by: William Green and Winston Borkowski.
Tags: Water