Commissioner: We Need To Balance the Interests of People With "Corporate Citizens" By Given Corporations Everything They Want

The Commissioner who is in charge of deciding whether Ameren should be allowed to build a toxic coal ash landfill in the middle of the Missouri River floodplain is hinting that he's going to decide against the wishes of area residents:

“If we’re not going to approve this, then I think we have to give them some direction, or at least something other than we don’t want it.” Presiding Commissioner John Griesheimer tells KMOX it’s his opinion there has to be some partnership and balance between residents and corporate citizens. “That plant has been there for 40 years and it’s been producing fly ash. There’s two big fly ash ponds there now. A lot of these, most of the people who are complaining moved into the area after the power plant was there.”

In other words, the way to find a balance between residents and "corporate citizens" is to give "corporate citizens" whatever they want. Or, to put it more charitably, if those pesky residents oppose having toxic sludge in their backyard, it's up to them to come up with a perfect proposal that explains where the toxic sludge should go instead. After all, it was their decision and not Ameren's to produce the toxic sludge in the first place. Oh wait, no it wasn't.

St. Louis Right Next To Nation's Third Dirtiest Coal Plant

Think Progress put out a report yesterday listing the 25 Dirtiest Power Plants in the United States, based on the amount of mercury emissions. The plant in Labadie, MO, released 1,297 lbs in 2009, third highest in the country according to the post. The report goes on to note the following:

So do these plants at least provide an equally high amount of energy? No. According to EDF, while these plants represent one third of mercury emissions, they only provide about 8% of electricity generation.

The harm from coal, if it were actually added to the cost of their power, would make these plants uneconomic, as Climate Progress detailed in February (see Life-cycle study: Accounting for total harm from coal would add “close to 17.8¢/kWh of electricity generated”).

By the way, Labadie is also where Ameren is trying to build a coal ash landfill full of toxic chemicals in the floodplain of the Missouri River. You can learn how to get involved by going here.

h/t to Joe Mohr at Green Cartoons (another great St. Louis talent).

EPA Sues Ameren For Alleged Emissions Law Violations: Ed Martin Blames "Big Government"

The EPA has filed a 26-page lawsuit against Ameren UE, claiming that Ameren performed modifications without the necessary permits and failed to install the pollution controls required by law. From the Post-Dispatch:

According to the EPA, Ameren made modifications at the plant from September 2001 to February 2002 without necessary permits and failed to install best available pollution control technology.

Those changes, the agency says, 'significantly increased" emissions of sulfur dioxide and particulate matter, two pollutants regulated under the Clean Air Act.

While Jefferson County meets national air-quality standards for sulfur dioxide, the county is currently designated as a "nonattainment" area for particulate matter, meaning it doesn't meet standards.

The lawsuit says Ameren didn't disclose the changes at Rush Island to the EPA or the state.

"On the contrary, Ameren filed annual statements with Missouri and the U.S. EPA that certified compliance with the Clean Air Act," the lawsuit says.

The EPA didn't discover the changes until an investigation in 2008.

Ed Martin, of course, decided not to bother waiting for any more information to come out. He's already decided that this is an example of "Big Government run amok:"

Yeah, who needs stupid things like laws and courts? We can just have Ed Martin tell whether things are legal based on his 0.02 seconds of reflection.