A final Environmental Protection Agency rule requiring best available technology for cooling water intake structures at 1,065 existing power plants and industrial facilities will not mandate the closed-loop systems sought by environmental groups. The purpose of the rule, which EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy signed May 19, is to minimize harm to aquatic life that can get drawn into the cooling water intake systems or impinged against screens designed to filter it out. Section 316(b) of the Clean Water Act requires National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits for facilities with cooling water intake structures. The EPA said the final rule applies to 544 power plants and 521 factories that withdraw at least 2 million gallons of cooling water per day and use 25 percent of that intake for cooling purposes.
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