Week in Washington starts with demand for conductivity rule

KFTC members were part of a multi-state delegation that formally petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to begin a rule-making process to limit conductivity in the nation’s streams.

The petition was delivered to EPA officials in Washington, DC on Monday. The delegation was in the nation’s capital city as part of the annual Week in Washington, coordinated by the Alliance for Appalachia.

A formal petition was used because the EPA is required to respond. Central Appalachia residents have been asking EPA to begin the rule-making process since a federal court ruled last year that the agency’s conductivity “guidance” was not enforceable.

KFTC member Rick Handshoe said the EPA has good science to back a reasonable conductivity limit.

“This conductivity guidance – based on scientific evidence – gives us the first sign that something may be wrong with our water. It is a great tool for people in Appalachia,” Handshoe said. “It may not tell you what exactly is wrong but it does tell you something is wrong and further testing is needed.

“It’s been a great tool for me. I’ve tested a creek where the water was crystal clear but the conductivity meter ran over 4000 microsiemens (µS). That told me something was wrong, and after further testing was done we saw how bad it was – some of the pollutant levels were 100 times the water standard.”

Research shows that the health of aquatic life in Central Appalachian streams begins to be affected when conductivity levels reach 300 µS, and begins to die at 500 µS. In April 2008, EPA issued “guidance” for in-stream limits at the 500 µS level.

Even though the standard was issued as guidance and not a formal rule, EPA began to enforce that limit in permits. That prompted a lawsuit by the National Mining Association, joined by the Beshear administration and others. Last year, a federal court ruled in favor of the NMA, stating that the EPA overstepped its authority by not issuing a formal rule.

Importantly, the court did not dispute the destruction caused by mountaintop removal and valleys fills or the science behind limiting the water pollution that results. That leaves the EPA with a solid basis to issue a formal rule.

A reason the coal industry and the Beshear administration fought so strongly against conductivity limits was because it was an “in-stream” standard. So rather than only limit individual pollution discharges, as state officials prefer to do, the EPA guidance considered the cumulative impact of all discharges as measured by the conductivity level in the stream.

Many, many streams in areas where coal is mined already exceed the 500 µS threshold.

Handshoe has tested streams that flow through his Floyd County property for several years. Conductivity levels regularly exceed 1400 µS, with levels of 1900 µS and above more common, with occasional spikes to 4000 µS.

“Everything in the stream is dead because Kentucky officials are not doing their jobs,” Handshoe pointed out. “We need federal action if we are to have any hope that our streams will one day recover.”