EPA's new selenium guidance a mixed bag for coal

OREANDA-NEWS. July 14, 2016.  The US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) new guidance on selenium limits in freshwater sources is drawing concern from both coal industry and environmental groups.

The recommendations published in the Federal Register today revise 17-year-old criteria testing criteria and limits on selenium exposure. States can either adopt EPA's recommendations or draft their own rules based on the federal agency's guidelines.

Selenium is present in sedimentary rocks and coal and can be toxic to fish at elevated levels, according to EPA.

The new rule presents a mixed bag for industry and environmental groups. It adopts some standards backed by coal producers and utilities, including using fish tissue for some testing, while implementing tighter limits on selenium levels that could be costly to the industry.

But the guidelines do not go as far as environmental groups wanted.

EPA said the new standards reflect "the latest scientific information" indicating that selenium toxicity is primarily based on fish and other aquatic life consuming tainted food rather than on the metallic compound dissolving in the water.

The agency recommended that states include four elements in their standards but give priority to fish tissue concentrations over water requirements. The 1999 criteria was only water-based.

The National Mining Association said it supported EPA's "emphasis on a fish tissue standard, since fish after all are the point of the standards in the first place." But the group is "troubled" by the agency's new water guidelines, which could preclude companies from mining in certain areas, particularly ones where natural selenium levels are elevated. It did not say where those areas are.

EPA tightened the maximum selenium levels to a 30-day average of 3.1 micrograms/liter in flowing waters and 1.5 micrograms/liter in impoundments, or reservoirs, that have intermittent exposure to selenium run off. The 1999 standard was 5 micrograms/liter for waters with acute concentrations in either environment.

The Center for Biological Diversity criticized the new water restrictions as not stringent enough. It accused EPA of relying on 30-year-old guidelines and said the agency had proposed tighter limits in 2010.

"These selenium standards are a step backward for water quality and little more than a green light for industry to keep polluting our rivers and streams," said, Brett Hartl, endangered species policy director at the center.

The Sierra Club criticized EPA for leaving standards up to state regulators "who have already established that they will not miss an opportunity to aid their polluter friends in the mining industry." It also said the 800-plus-page guidelines are "convoluted and extremely difficult." The group did not return a request for comment on what actions, if any, it plans to take with EPA.

EPA said it is working on developing technical information to help states implement its guidelines.