The Environmental Protection Agency has rejected pleas from state governors and environmental groups, signing off on making it easier to dump mountaintop mining waste near rivers and streams.

But the EPA said it did so because it secured additional safeguards.

The governors of Kentucky and Tennessee, as well as other lawmakers from those states, had urged EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson to block the rule.

The measure would rewrite a regulation enacted in 1983 that bars mining companies from dumping huge waste piles within 100 feet of temporary streams when it could diminish water quality and quantity.

Under a provision of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, the EPA must concur in writing to any mining regulations that could affect air and water quality.

The Bush administration needs the EPA's approval to make the rule final.