New fish rules could limit water Consumers Energy pulls from

[Hamilton Reef]

New fish rules could limit water Consumers Energy pulls from river

http://www.mlive.com/news/bctimes/index ... xml&coll=4

02/22/07 By JEFF KART TIMES WRITER jkart@bc-times.com

About a third of the Saginaw River flows each day through the Karn-Weadock power complex in Hampton Township, where the water is used to cool generators.

But a recent federal court ruling means the water flow could be shut off in coming years, as plant operator Consumers Energy makes costly changes to its cooling system to keep from killing fish.

''This may be the most significant decision from a court that we've had in terms of enforcing environmental protection,'' said Eddie Scher, a spokesman for Waterkeeper Alliance, an environmental nonprofit in New York that sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over the issue.

A U.S. appeals court in New York recently ruled that EPA decisions must ''be driven by technology, not cost,'' so the agency has to rewrite rules for power plants like Karn-Weadock that use ''once-through cooling.''

Karn-Weadock takes in about 574 million gallons of water a day, about a third of the river's daily flow, according to company and state officials.

The plant's once-through system returns most of the water to the Saginaw River - some is lost to evaporation.

The problem the EPA is trying to combat is with fish that are pinned against screens and killed at cooling water intakes, and fish eggs, larvae and aquatic organisms that are boiled in cooling systems.

Just how many fish, eggs and larvae are impacted by the system at Karn-Weadock isn't clear, but there have been fish kills near the plant's ''hot pond'' discharge point in the past, state Department of Environmental Quality officials say.

The EPA was going to allow plants like Karn-Weadock to study the problem and propose solutions based on costs and benefits, like paying money to the state for restocking fish to compensate for impacts from once-through cooling.

But the appeals court ruled that the EPA has to write new rules that put fish first, and costs second, which may require plants like Karn-Weadock to switch to closed-cycle cooling systems that don't draw in water continuously, Scher said.

A U.S. appeals court in New York recently ruled that EPA decisions must ''be driven by technology, not cost,'' so the agency has to rewrite rules for power plants like Karn-Weadock that use ''once-through cooling.''

Karn-Weadock takes in about 574 million gallons of water a day, about a third of the river's daily flow, according to company and state officials.

The plant's once-through system returns most of the water to the Saginaw River - some is lost to evaporation.

The problem the EPA is trying to combat is with fish that are pinned against screens and killed at cooling water intakes, and fish eggs, larvae and aquatic organisms that are boiled in cooling systems.

Just how many fish, eggs and larvae are impacted by the system at Karn-Weadock isn't clear, but there have been fish kills near the plant's ''hot pond'' discharge point in the past, state Department of Environmental Quality officials say.

The EPA was going to allow plants like Karn-Weadock to study the problem and propose solutions based on costs and benefits, like paying money to the state for restocking fish to compensate for impacts from once-through cooling.

But the appeals court ruled that the EPA has to write new rules that put fish first, and costs second, which may require plants like Karn-Weadock to switch to closed-cycle cooling systems that don't draw in water continuously, Scher said.

Karn-Weadock officials have been working with an engineering firm for about three years on a study required by a 2004 EPA rule, looking at impacts of the plant's cooling system and ways to minimize fish kills. That 2004 rule is now being rewritten due to the court ruling.

Bill Beckman, who manages environmental programs for Consumers Energy in Jackson, said the company is ''disappointed'' by the court ruling. He thinks it will result in a standard that's less flexible.

''On older units like Karn-Weadock, we were probably going to try to figure out what we could do to minimize the intake problems and then try to figure out what else we could do, like give the state money to raise additional fish or something along those lines.

''Those options may be out of there. They may require us to make some pretty costly modifications to the unit.''

Consumers officials said in 2004 that the less-stringent rule could cost millions of dollars to meet, with the expenses passed on to ratepayers. Beckman declined to speculate on a pricetag for the new ruling.

A Karn-Weadock study under the 2004 rule is to be complete by July 31, a spokesman said.

''We're going to be in a position where we need to probably schedule any fixes until after the EPA comes up with a new rule,'' Beckman said. ''We don't want to do anything that may have to be done over again.''

There are about 1,000 power plants and other facilities across the United States that pull water from lakes, rivers and oceans to cool equipment, Scher said.

''Conservatively, these thousand or so plants that use antiquated systems are killing a trillion fish a year,'' he said.

Technology to completely eliminate fish kills at power plants has been around for 60 years, Scher said.

''Otherwise, how would you build a power plant in the desert?'' he said. ''These things don't have to be connected, and they're not particularly expensive.''

Scher estimates it will take about three years before a new rule is in place.

''This will have fundamental impacts,'' Scher said. ''In every place where there's one of these plants, you're going to see fisheries come back.''

Waterkeeper Alliance is a coalition of more than 150 waterkeeper groups, including three in Michigan.