Community Corner
Sierra Club, Environmental Groups Stand for Stronger Laws Against Coal Waste Dumping
Find out how the an environmental COALITION's latest report dovetails with the Sierra Club's efforts against a coal ash waste landfill here in Oakville.
Tuesday Missouri Sierra Club hosted a toxic beauty pageant hoping to convince local legislators they must take action to regulate environmental standards for coal plants. The demonstration coincided with the release of a report that demonstrates the lack of regulation for coal plants, and the waste that ends up in public waterways.
In the video above, Missouri Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Organizer Sara Edgar explains how Tuesday's efforts dovetail with an ongoing petition campaign against a proposed coal ash waste landfill in Oakville.
The report, “Closing the Floodgates: How the Coal Industry Is Poisoning Our Water and How We Can Stop It” reviewed water permits for 386 coal plants across the country, according to a news release from the Sierra Club. The report also identifies whether states have upheld the Clean Water Act by ensuring all permits are up-to-date.
The report found:
- 16 of 18 coal plants in Missouri that discharge coal ash and scrubber wastewater into public waters have no limits on the amounts of toxic metals, such as arsenic, boron, cadmium, mercury, and selenium, they are allowed to dump into public waters. They also don't have requirements to monitor discharge of toxic metals.
- Only one coal plant in Missouri is operating with up-to-date Clean Water Act permits.
"These standards will also require all coal plants to monitor and report the amount of toxics dumped into our water, giving us detailed information for the first time about the types and amounts of dangerous chemicals in our water," according to the news release.
Read Ameren's response to the report's findings.
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