Taming the monster on the Bay.

• Position: Rhode Island - Environmental impact of Brayton Point power plant cooling system - Brief Article

"Cool" is hot praise, as in, "What a cool dude." But in Mount Hope Bay, the wrong kind of cool is really hot--a life or death proposition if you're a winter flounder. PG&E's notorious Brayton Point power plant uses a once-through cooling system that takes in a billion gallons of water daily to cool its generators, heats it to 95[degrees] F, and discharges it to the bay--killing trillions of marine organisms each year.

Brayton installed once-through cooling in 1984, at which point fish populations in the Bay began a dramatic decline. A peer-reviewed study by the Rhode Island Division of Fish and Wildlife revealed an 87% decline in flounder populations between 1984 and 1996. Similar rates of decline were seen in 15 other species of finfish.

CLF has long been Brayton's conscience, applying no less pressure than the plant does to its victims. We've tirelessly lobbied for a switch to closed-cycle cooling, which would reduce water withdrawal by 94%, and heat release by 96 %. Now EPA has...