Suit Seeks End to San Onofre Plant’s Fish Kill

Charging that the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station is violating federal law by killing off tons of fish and kelp, an environmental group filed suit Thursday against Southern California Edison Co., demanding a stop to the killing.

The suit was filed about a year after a 15-year, $46-million study found that the nuclear plant south of San Clemente is killing tons of fish and kelp. But since then, neither Edison nor state regulatory agencies has taken action on the findings, according to the suit, filed by Earth Island Institute Inc., a San Francisco-based environmental group.

The suit, filed in federal court in San Diego, demands that Edison either fix the plant’s cooling system, which the study said is responsible for most of the fish and kelp kills, or shut the plant.

The suit also says Edison should be ordered to establish an environmental trust fund to restore fish and kelp levels, and asks for unspecified monetary damages.

The San Onofre plant is on the Pacific Ocean, within the Marine Corps base at Camp Pendleton.

The suit alleges that Edison, a subsidiary of SCE Corp., has been violating the federal Clean Water Act simply by operating the plant.

According to the suit, fish are killed when massive amounts of water are taken into the plant to cool the reactors. Kelp, according to the suit, dies from particles that come back out with the water and either land on the fronds or block sunlight.

Federal law requires Edison to have permits from the state Water Quality Board and from the California Coastal Commission. Operation of the plant in such a way as to kill marine life technically violates the water board’s permit, according to the suit.

The suit relies heavily on the study, which was ordered by the Coastal Commission and issued in August, 1989.