BECKLEY — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has tightened limitations on mountaintop removal with new actions to “clarify” and strengthen guidelines for Appalachian mining permits.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said Thursday the guidelines were long overdue and were being implemented to protect Appalachian communities from damaging impacts from mountaintop removal coal mining.

“This is not about ending coal mining. This is about ending coal mining pollution,” she said during a conference call. “Coal communities should not have to sacrifice their environment or their health or their economic future to mountaintop mining.”

The guidelines clarify existing requirements of Sections 402 and 404 of Clean Water Act permitting programs that apply to pollution from surface mining in order to protect waterways. It details how the agency uses the law to ensure that future mining will not cause harm to the environment, water quality and human health.

The EPA cited a growing body of scientific studies, including those conducted by former agency scientists, that waterways are damaged by runoff from mountaintop mining. Two scientific reports are being published for public comment and submitted for peer review to the EPA Science Advisory Board.

One pertains to the aquatic impacts of mountaintop removal and valley fills, and the second establishes a scientific benchmark for unacceptable levels of conductivity, which measures water pollution from mining.

The EPA identified a range of conductivity standards of 300 to 500 microSiemens per centimeter. The measurement of 500 microSiemens per centimeter is about five times above normal levels. Anything above that measurement is considered harmful. Mining estimated to produce a runoff equal to or below 300 is deemed acceptable, according to the EPA.

This conductivity level is intended to protect 95 percent of aquatic life and freshwater streams in central Appalachia, EPA officials said.

The guidelines are effective immediately, according to the EPA.

“These new guidelines will reduce the destruction caused by mountaintop removal, and communities will be able to focus on building a clean energy economy,” Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune said in a statement.

Massey Energy, one of the largest producers in the affected region, provided a chart showing San Pellegrino and Perrier mineral waters exceed the EPA standard, as did water from a pond at a southern West Virginia mine.

“We’re deeply concerned by the impact this policy will have on employment and economic activity throughout the Appalachian region,” National Mining Association spokesman Luke Popovich said.

The organization’s figures show surface mines in the six states covered by the policy produced more than 150 million tons of coal and employed nearly 20,500 people in 2008. U.S. production totaled more than 1.17 billion that year.

“To painstakingly try to limit the impacts to one kind of mining operation, to a single industry and to future operations is frankly disingenuous,” Popovich said.

Gov. Joe Manchin said in a statement prior to the announcement that he’s pleased the EPA is working to clarify its regulations, but that the new guidelines are subject to public opinion and promised to make sure “our voices are heard loud and clear during the public comment period” to ensure the regulations are reasonable and attainable.

“I believe the EPA has a responsibility to work with each state to find the balance between the jobs, the economy and the environment, of which we all want to be stewards,” he said. “This nation needs the coal West Virginia has been able to produce for many, many years.

“As we go through this transition to the fuel of the future, I believe we can find better ways to mine and use coal, but we are looking for a good partnership in Washington to make that possible.”

Jackson expects the guidelines to change behaviors, stating that “if we keep doing what we’re doing in respect to these projects, we’re going to continue to see decreasing degradation of waterways.”

Valley fills, which go hand-in-hand with mountaintop removal, could be a thing of the past, she said.

“Minimizing the number of valley fills is a key factor,” she said. “(We’re) talking about no or very few valley fills are going to be able to meet standards like this.”

She added the intent of the guidelines is to better convey to the people what science has been telling them for years.

“It would be untrue to say that you can have numbers of valley fills, anything more than say, very minimal valley fills and not expect to see irreversible damage to stream health,” she said. “That’s just the truth.”

The EPA is applying the policy in West Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia and Tennessee. “All the science here and all the data, much of it comes from the state of West Virginia,” Jackson said.

She said she understands the importance of coal in the country, especially in Appalachia, and stressed these measures are for providing safer communities, not reducing jobs.

“Getting this right is important to Americans who rely on affordable coal to power their homes and businesses,” she said, “as well as coal communities that count on jobs in a livable environment both during and after coal companies move to other sites.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

— E-mail: cjackson@register-herald.com