Law360, New York (June 25, 2014, 11:52 AM EDT) -- The operation of power plants and most other large industrial facilities requires significant quantities of water drawn from oceans, lakes or rivers for cooling purposes. For decades, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency unsuccessfully attempted to promulgate regulations implementing Section 316(b) of the Clean Water Act, which provides that the "location, design, capacity and construction" of cooling water intake structures at such facilities must "reflect the best technology available for minimizing adverse environmental impacts." Proposed Section 316(b) rules already have led to several landmark judicial decisions, including, most recently, Entergy Corp. v. Riverkeeper, which held that the EPA has the authority to weigh costs and benefits in regulating intake structures....