Bill Text: CA AB457 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Saline water conversion: Diablo Canyon nuclear powerplant.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2017-06-14 - Referred to Com. on RLS. [AB457 Detail]
Download: California-2017-AB457-Amended.html
Amended
IN
Assembly
May 26, 2017 |
Amended
IN
Assembly
March 30, 2017 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill | No. 457 |
Introduced by Assembly Member Cunningham |
February 13, 2017 |
An act relating to water.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 457, as amended, Cunningham.
Saline water conversion: Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant. nuclear powerplant.
The Cobey-Porter Saline Water Conversion Law required, by July 1, 2004, the Department of Water Resources to report to the Legislature on potential opportunities for the use of seawater and brackish water desalination in California. Existing law required the report to evaluate the impediments to the use of desalination technology and to examine what role, if any, the state should play in furthering the use of desalination in California.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. The Diablo Canyon nuclear powerplant is operated by the Pacific Gas and Electric Company in the County of San Luis Obispo. Existing law establishes the
Public Utilities Commission Utilities Reimbursement Account and authorizes the commission to annually determine a fee to be paid by every public utility providing service directly to customers or subscribers and subject to the jurisdiction of the commission.
This bill would require the department, in consultation with specified entities, to conduct commission, as part of the commission’s regulatory actions related to the proposed decommissioning of the Diablo Canyon nuclear powerplant and consistent with the goal to mitigate negative impacts to ratepayers, to cause a study to be conducted on the feasibility of repurposing the water desalination
facility at the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant in the County of San Luis Obispo
nuclear powerplant for purposes of desalinating water for local use. The bill would require the commission to contract with an independent 3rd party to carry out the study on its behalf and would require the study to be conducted using moneys from the Public Utilities Commission Utilities Reimbursement Account.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
(a) The(1) The economic viability of repurposing the facility.
(2) Potential water capacity and potential regional communities that would benefit from the repurposing of the facility.
(3) Unique engineering challenges, if any.
(b) (1) In implementing this section, the department may
commission shall contract with an independent third party to carry out the study on its behalf. In carrying out the study, the third party shall consult with the Department of Water Resources, the Board of Supervisors of the County of San Luis Obispo, and impacted regional water districts.
(2) The study shall be conducted using moneys from the Public Utilities Commission Utilities Reimbursement Account.