TITLE
Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute Amendment Number 1 to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), and any subsequent amendments thereto, between the City of Long Beach and AES Alamitos, LLC, to extend the term, accept a one-time cash payment of $150,000, and amend Section 5 “Term and Renegotiation.” to support the Alamitos Bay Water Quality Enhancement Project; and
Increase appropriations in the Tidelands Operating Fund Group in the Public Works Department by $150,000 offset by an MOU cash payment from AES Alamitos, LLC, for engineering and due diligence efforts. (District 3)
DISCUSSION
On October 20, 2015, the City Council approved the City of Long Beach (City) and AES Alamitos, LLC (AES), to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding dated and effective as of November 16, 2015 (2015 MOU). The 2015 MOU memorialized the City and AES’s agreement related to the existing AES Alamitos Generating Station (AGS), Units 1-6, located on Studebaker Road, including the demolition of the AGS Units and the anticipated future cessation of the Once Through Cooling (OTC) operations of the AGS.
State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) policy requires the phasing out the OTC to reduce marine impacts such as, (1) entrainment (fish and larvae drawn through the cooling system and subjected to hot water) and (2) impingement (fish trapped at the screens). AES successfully retired AGS Units 1, 2, and 6. The State Water Board’s compliance date for closure of the remaining AGS Units is December 31, 2023. Modeling studies indicate the cessation of power plant pumps will have an immediate effect on water circulation and is expected to precipitate secondary adverse effects on water quality and aquatic life. These effects include trash accumulation, prolonged periods of elevated bacteria concentrations resulting in water quality that may be harmful for human contact, and an increase in temperatures and nutrients in areas that are shallow a...
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