A plan being considered by California's State Water Resources Control Board would end the practice of allowing power plants along the coast to suck in ocean water to cool their machinery.
Reporting this radio story, I was lucky enough to take a kayak ride around a small part of Elkhorn Slough, where my guide, Steve Shimek, and I saw hundreds of sea lions, and sea otters that popped up just feet from our kayaks.
I highly recommend the trip. Kayak rentals are about $40, and this excellent guided tour, courtesy of the folks at QUEST Interactive, will tell you everything you need to know.
Now, about John Vincent's brush with death. I first read about John Vincent in this LA Times article about once-through cooling. John's story has a pretty irresistible opener, even if it was a freak occurrence. In the radio story, we hear that John went lobster fishing in El Segundo one night. (Lobsters are nocturnal, in case you didn't know.) He picked what looked like a perfect spot – right next to what he thought was a white buoy.
In fact, it was a red buoy, covered in seagull poop. Red means "Don't dive here." Which, after putting on his scuba gear and grabbing his lobster bag, is exactly what John did.
Here is his account -- which I've edited and condensed -- of what happened next.
After about 20 minutes, I had my limit, 7 lobsters. I’m about to head back to the boat when I feel a current. I let it pull me in the direction and I’m just looking… Before I knew it, I was like vroop! Abruptly -- abruptly -- I got sucked into the pipe.
