Today (Dec 17), the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri entered an order requiring Ameren Missouri to spend $61 million on projects intended to mitigate violations of the federal Clean Air Act (CAA), including 14 years of unpermitted excess emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2). This order resolves years-long litigation between the parties.
Under the terms of the order - which were jointly proposed by Ameren, the Sierra Club, and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) - the electric utility will spend $25 million to provide vouchers for approximately 125,000 predominantly low-income, eastern Missouri households to purchase high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters designed to improve household air quality.
The remaining $36 million will be spent on helping St. Louis school districts switch to zero-emission, all-electric school buses. In the event that certain benchmarks are not met when implementing the filter and electric school bus projects, Ameren will implement a third project funding weatherization and energy efficiency upgrades in the St. Louis metro area.
"Nothing can undo the widespread harm to human health that Ameren caused by illegally emitting thousands of tons of harmful pollution into the air that St. Louisans breathe every day, but today's court order requires Ameren to pay for projects that will make that air a little cleaner and provide some measure of justice to the public," said EPA Region 7 Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Division Director David Cozad. "The Court's order also marks the end of a dozen years of litigation where, finally, the rule of law prevailed."
"Today's agreement holds Ameren accountable for over 14 years of violations, which resulted in excessive sulfur dioxide emissions from the largest coal-fired power producer in Missouri," said EPA Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Assistant Administrator David M. Uhlmann. "Ameren exposed residents of the metropolitan St. Louis area to unacceptable levels of pollution. Today, the company begins to right its wrongs - and EPA once again makes good on its commitment to seeking meaningful relief for low-income and disadvantaged communities."
EPA alleged that Ameren, the largest coal-fired power producer in Missouri, operated in violation of the CAA for years when it failed to install air emission controls at its Rush Island power plant, southeast of Festus, Missouri. In 2011, DOJ filed a complaint against Ameren in the Eastern District of Missouri. In 2017, the Court ruled in favor of the United States, finding that Ameren had violated the CAA.
In 2019, the Court ordered Ameren to come into compliance with the CAA at the Rush Island plant by installing controls to lower SO2 emissions and to mitigate its years of illegal pollution by installing emissions controls at another Ameren plant in nearby Labadie, Missouri.
On appeal, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the order to install controls at the Rush Island plant, but remanded the decision regarding mitigation at Labadie to the District Court. However, instead of installing the controls at Rush Island, Ameren announced it would shutter the plant and did so by court order in October 2024.
This agreement represents the resolution of the case on remand from the 8th Circuit and addresses the outstanding mitigation owed by Ameren to the public from its CAA violations and 14 years of illegal excess emissions from the Rush Island plant.
Excess SO2 emissions led to increased risks of lung disease, heart disease, and premature death in downwind communities in the form of harmful particulate matter.
Today's resolution also provides targeted relief and health benefits to the communities most harmed by Rush Island's pollution.
