EPA Issues Comprehensive Guidance to Protect Appalachian
Communities From Harmful Environmental Impacts of Mountain Top Mining
Guidance provides additional clarity and ensures stronger
protection at
projects in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and
Tennessee
US EPA Press Release
1 April 2010
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today
announced a set of actions to further clarify and strengthen
environmental permitting requirements for Appalachian mountaintop
removal and other surface coal mining projects, in coordination with
federal and state regulatory agencies. Using the best available
science and following the law, the comprehensive guidance sets clear
benchmarks for preventing significant and irreversible damage to
Appalachian watersheds at risk from mining activity.
Mountaintop removal is a form of surface coal mining in which
explosives are used to access coal seams, generating large volumes of
waste that bury adjacent streams. The resulting waste that then fills
valleys and streams can significantly compromise water quality, often
causing permanent damage to ecosystems and rendering streams unfit for
swimming, fishing and drinking. It is estimated that almost 2,000 miles
of Appalachian headwater streams have been buried by mountaintop coal
mining.
"The people of Appalachia shouldn't have to choose between a clean,
healthy environment in which to raise their families and the jobs they
need to support them. That’s why EPA is providing even greater clarity
on the direction the agency is taking to confront pollution from
mountain top removal,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “We will
continue to work with all stakeholders to find a way forward that
follows the science and the law. Getting this right is important to
Americans who rely on affordable coal to power homes and businesses, as
well as coal communities that count on jobs and a livable environment,
both during mining and after coal companies move to other sites.”
EPA’s Actions:
- Improved Guidance and Clarity: EPA is communicating
comprehensive guidance to its regional offices with permitting
responsibility in Appalachian states. The guidance clarifies existing
requirements of the Section 402 and 404 Clean Water Act permitting
programs that apply to pollution from surface coal mining operations in
streams and wetlands. The guidance details EPA’s responsibilities and
how the agency uses its Clean Water Act (CWA) authorities to ensure
that future mining will not cause significant environmental, water
quality and human health impacts. EPA also expects this information
will provide improved consistency and predictability in the CWA
permitting process and help to strengthen coordination with other
federal and state regulatory agencies and mining companies.
- Strong Science: EPA is making publicly available two
scientific reports prepared by its Office of Research and Development
(ORD). One summarizes the aquatic impacts of mountaintop mining and
valley fills. The second report establishes a scientific benchmark for
unacceptable levels of conductivity (a measure of water pollution from
mining practices) that threaten stream life in surface waters.
These reports are being published for public comment and submitted for
peer review to the EPA Science Advisory Board.
- Increased transparency: EPA is creating a permit tracking
Web site so that the public can determine the status of mining permits
subject to the EPA-U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Enhanced Coordination
Procedure (ECP).
A growing body of scientific literature, including previous and new
studies performed by EPA, show significant damage to local streams that
are polluted with the mining runoff from mountaintop removal. To
protect water quality, EPA has identified a range of conductivity (a
measure of the level of salt in the water) of 300 to 500 microSiemens
per centimeter. The maximum benchmark conductivity of 500 microSiemens
per centimeter is a measure of salinity that is roughly five times
above normal levels. The conductivity levels identified in the
clarifying guidance are intended to protect 95 percent of aquatic life
and fresh water streams in central Appalachia.
EPA will solicit public comments on the new guidance. The guidance will
be effective immediately on an interim basis. EPA will decide whether
to modify the guidance after consideration of public comments and the
results of the SAB technical review of the EPA scientific reports.
The EPA guidance identifies improvements in mining practices and
operations that will reduce adverse impacts on water quality. EPA will
continue to work with coal companies that are interested in modifying
their projects to reduce their environmental footprint and prevent harm
to water quality and human health. Earlier this year, EPA approved the
Hobet 45 permit in West Virginia. Working with the mining
company, EPA was able to reduce stream impacts by almost 50 percent and
minimize mine runoff into surface waters. Those changes helped
permanently protect local waters, maximize coal recovery and reduce
costs for the operators.
In contrast, EPA recently proposed to significantly restrict or
prohibit mountaintop mining at the Spruce No. 1 surface mine in Logan
County, W. Va. Attempts at dialogue with the company failed to ensure a
significant decrease of environmental and water quality impacts from
the project. The Spruce No. 1 mine, as proposed, would bury more
than seven miles of headwater streams, directly impact 2,278 acres of
forestland, and degrade water quality in streams adjacent to the
mine. The project was permitted in 2007 and subsequently delayed
by litigation.
EPA’s guidance offers recommendations to its regions on the application
of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to surface coal mining
projects permitted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps is
separately announcing plans for rulemaking to expand the scope of NEPA
review. EPA is supportive of this effort and will work closely with the
Corps.
All the documents: http://www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/guidance/mining.html
Additional Comprehensive Guidance
EPA is issuing comprehensive guidance clarifying the standards that its
regional offices should apply in permitting reviews of Appalachian
surface coal mining projects under the Clean Water Act (CWA). This
guidance directs EPA field staff to coordinate with their federal and
state regulatory partners to strengthen the environmental review of new
Appalachian surface coal mining projects and to improve protection of
the communities’ local water and environment. More specifically,
the guidance:
- Incorporates the latest scientific information in clarifying
how CWA permits should assure compliance with existing water quality
standards to protect the use of streams by communities and to ensure
healthy aquatic life.
- Clarifies how CWA requirements apply to the disposal of
mining overburden in streams to reduce the size and number of valley
fills, to limit water quality contamination of streams near mining
operations, and to prevent significant environmental degradation of
streams and wetlands.
- Improves opportunities for the voices of adversely affected
Appalachian communities to be heard in the process of reviewing
proposed new mining operations.
EPA Releases Two Draft Scientific Reports for Public Comment
- Field-Based Aquatic Life Benchmark for Conductivity
This draft report adapts EPA’s traditional approach for developing
water quality criteria to field data in central Appalachia in order to
develop a conductivity benchmark protective of stream life in
Appalachian surface waters. Conductivity is a measure of the
level of salinity (salt) in the water. There are mining materials that
are dumped or runoff into water that can raise the salinity level that
turns fresh water into salty water. When this happens, living organisms
have difficulty surviving because they cannot tolerate the high
salinity level.
The draft report makes the following conclusions:
- The salinity of water has been shown to negatively affect
aquatic organisms (stream life).
- By plotting the conductivity levels at which organisms are
no longer observed in streams, we can determine a level of conductivity
that results in their loss. EPA identified a benchmark of 300
microSiemens per cm (units of conductivity) that protects 95 percent of
aquatic organisms living in streams in central Appalachia.
- EPA derived this benchmark using more than 2,000 field
samples collected in West Virginia. These results were validated using
data from Kentucky.
- Although the method is applicable to any region, the value
300 is only applicable to Central Appalachian streams containing the
types of salts found in those streams.
- Additional analyses demonstrate that the observed effects on
the aquatic community are due types of salts that are consistent with
minerals leached from mountaintop mining operations and not to other
variables that were evaluated.
Mountaintop Mining / Valley Fill Impacts Report
EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD) conducted a literature
review of peer-reviewed studies focusing on aquatic environmental and
water quality impacts of mountaintop mining and valley fills. The
draft report among other conclusions, found:
- Burial of headwater streams by valley fills causes permanent
loss of ecosystems.
- Concentrations of salts as measured by conductivity are, on
average, 10 times higher downstream of mountaintop mines and valley
fills than in un-mined watersheds.
- The increased levels of salts disrupt the life cycle of
freshwater aquatic organisms and some cannot live in these waters.
- Water with high salt concentrations downstream of
mountaintop mines and valley fills is toxic to stream organisms. To
date, there is no evidence that streams that undergo a restoration
process have returned to their normal ecological functions after the
mining is completed.