Energy: powerplants: Ventura County.

Under existing law, the State Water Resources Control Board and the 9 California regional water quality control boards regulate water quality in accordance with the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act (act) and the federal Clean Water Act. Under the act, the state board is required to adopt specified state policies with respect to water quality as it relates to the coastal marine environment, including a policy requiring new or expanded coastal powerplants and other industrial installations using seawater for cooling, heating, or industrial processing to use the best available site, design, technology, and mitigation measures feasible to minimize the intake and mortality of all forms of marine life. This bill would require the Public Utilities Commission and the Independent System Operator, in consultation with specified entities, to submit to the Legislature, on or before January 1, 2015, a report on policies, recommended legislative actions, and incentives necessary to accomplish specified objectives related to once-through cooling powerplants in Ventura County while preserving and enhancing electric system reliability in the Counties of Santa Barbara and Ventura. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Ventura.