To: Charlie Dooley, County Executive and County Council
Protect our air and water from Ameren’s dirty coal pollution!
The health of the residents of the St. Louis area should not be written off as a cost of doing business. As a resident of St. Louis County, I am asking for County Executive Charlie Dooley and the St. Louis County Council to be our heroes and call upon the Missouri Department of Natural Resources to require Ameren to lower its sulfur dioxide emissions to levels that are safe for residents to breathe and in accordance with the Clean Air Act, as well as require groundwater monitoring at all current coal ash disposal sites.
Why is this important?
Ameren is in the business of making money for its investors and executives, but Ameren is doing this at the expense of the health and well-being of St. Louis area residents. Ameren relies almost entirely on dirty, out-of-state coal to generate electricity, poisoning our air and water in St. Louis County in the process.
Currently, Ameren is able to pollute almost limitlessly. Ameren’s plants lack pollution controls for dangerous sulfur dioxide, a pollutant that contributes to severe respiratory illnesses. Ameren doesn’t monitor groundwater at its existing coal ash disposal sites, even though leaching of pollutant-laden coal-ash waste has been documented. Now, Ameren is trying to rush through proposals to build new landfills for coal ash without informing our communities.