Five months after the Los Angeles Department Water & Power lost its bid to extend the dates for phasing out its coastal plants’ use of seawater for cooling, state regulators agreed to consider pushing back the date when the facilities must be retired or retrofitted. “The end result is very similar but [the proposed amendment] goes at it in a different way,” John Bishop, State Water Resources Control Board chief deputy director, told Current. “There is nothing new here,” said Joe Geever, Surfrider California policy director. Last December, the State Water Board rejected LADWP’s attempt to get an exception to regulators’ months-old policy eliminating the use of large quantities of coastal water for cooling turbines at California’s 19 coastal power plants over the next several years (Current, Dec. 14, 2010). The board refused to alter the policy setting plant retrofit or retirement dates but agreed to revisit the timing if Los Angeles made a strong case in its compliance plan due to the board last month. The Water Board’s policy to terminate once-through cooling at coastal facilities aims to reduce the generating units’ harm to aquatic critters. Marine life gets pulled into power plant intakes and/or is impacted by the discharged heated waste water. Under the Water Board’s May 17 proposal, the phase-out of some of the units at Los Angeles’ Scattergood, Harbor, and Haynes plants would be pushed back between four and 20 years. Compliance dates for three other units would be advanced. Under the new proposal, Haynes units 1 and 2 would be extended to 2027 from 2019. The Harbor unit 5 phase out would be pushed back from the end of 2015 to the end of 2035. The existing operation of Scattergood’s units 1 and 2 would be extended to 2024 from 2015. At the same time, water cooling would be history at Haynes units 5 and 6 at the end of 2013 instead of 2019. The phase out of one of the three Scattergood units would be moved from 2020 to the end of 2015. Bishop said the Water Board expected its retrofit or retirement compliance dates to change in response to “more information” about the feasibility of phasing out once-through cooling. He agreed the board’s once-through cooling policy seeks to reduce impacts to the marine environment, but noted that regulators also must factor in maintaining grid reliability. The Los Angeles muni faces considerable rate pressure. It is trying to limit rate increases while slashing its coal power imports and replacing its once-through cooled units. It also has been working to increase its renewable resources. The State Water Board plans to hold a public hearing July 19. In October, it plans to vote on compliance date changes for Los Angeles and other plant owners.