To: Ken Waller, Jefferson County Executive
Protect our air and water from Ameren’s dirty coal pollution!
The health of Jefferson County residents should not be written off as a cost of doing business. Unfortunately, our health is at risk from Ameren’s harmful coal pollution, which contaminates the air we breathe, the water we drink, and land we all enjoy. As a local resident, I am asking for the Jefferson County Council to be our heroes and reject Ameren’s proposed coal ash landfill, 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.
Why is this important?
As Ameren customers, we acknowledge that our energy use has an acute impact on that environment, and that Missouri residents living closest to Ameren’s coal plants bear the greatest burden of that impact and that 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 local residents. Ameren relies almost entirely on dirty, out-of-state coal to generate electricity, poisoning our air and water in Jefferson 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 is just starting to monitor groundwater at its existing coal ash pond at Rush Island, and has not yet produced any data. Although Ameren’s own documents concede that coal ash is already sitting in the groundwater at the existing ash pond, Ameren has no plans to clean that up before building a new landfill directly above the ash pond. Now, Ameren is trying to rush through proposals to build a new landfill for coal ash without informing or protecting our communities.
But Ameren is doing this at the expense of the health and well-being of local residents. Ameren relies almost entirely on dirty, out-of-state coal to generate electricity, poisoning our air and water in Jefferson 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 is just starting to monitor groundwater at its existing coal ash pond at Rush Island, and has not yet produced any data. Although Ameren’s own documents concede that coal ash is already sitting in the groundwater at the existing ash pond, Ameren has no plans to clean that up before building a new landfill directly above the ash pond. Now, Ameren is trying to rush through proposals to build a new landfill for coal ash without informing or protecting our communities.