COLUMBIA --- The head of the Environmental Protection Agency has disputed claims by some South Carolina leaders that new federal climate rules will hamstring the state's small businesses, The State newspaper reported Monday.

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Environmental Protection Agency Chief Lisa Jackson, who visited the Savannah River Site with Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., on Monday denied new climate rules will hurt small businesses.

"Not while I'm head of the EPA," EPA chief Lisa P. Jackson said before an environmental justice conference in Columbia on Sunday. "I don't know where that comes from, except that people are rightly afraid of stuff they don't understand."

Jackson was responding to criticism from leaders from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and state Attorney General Henry McMaster, who have said the nation's first greenhouse gas regulations on large industries would also apply to South Carolina businesses such as restaurants and apartment complexes.

The new rules would require pollution control devices to curb greenhouse gas releases, a requirement that could cost industries millions of dollars. The EPA is expected to decide soon which industries will be affected.

During a meeting with business leaders last month, Graham and DHEC officials said the regulations could extend to small businesses, such as restaurants, apartment buildings and possibly churches.

At that meeting, DHEC air bureau chief Myra Reece said some small business owners are "going to wake up and you're going to find yourself regulated."

McMaster has joined eight other states in legal action that could stop the new rules he says will cost the state jobs. He and Graham favor a new law passed by Congress to control greenhouse gases, instead of looming EPA regulations.

Jackson and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., met Chamber of Commerce officials in Columbia on Monday. She also made stops in North Charleston and at the Savannah River Site.