Missouri Air Pollution Plan Rejected by Environmental Protection Agency

St. Louis, MO – Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the Biden Administration’s proposed Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, which will protect Americans from dangerous cross-state air pollution from coal-burning power plants and other industrial sources in 26 states. The announcement comes weeks after notice was given to Missouri and 18 other states that their state implementation plans to curb pollution were not enough. 

Cross-state air pollution is the air pollution from upwind states that crosses state lines and affects air quality in downwind states. Oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions react in the presence of heat and sunlight to create ground-level ozone or smog. These emissions can affect air quality and public health locally, regionally, and in states hundreds of miles downwind. The proposed rule calls for a 61 percent emissions reduction from electric utilities in MO, one of the largest reductions from any state.

The Biden Administration made a commitment to take bold and historic public health action that centers on environmental justice that can only be accomplished with swift action to reduce all levels of pollution. Currently, there are more than 150 coal-burning power plant units across the country lacking modern NOx pollution control technologies with no plans to retire before 2026. In Missouri, this includes all four units at Ameren Missouri’s Labadie coal plant and the Sikeston coal plant

Under the proposal, power-sector polluters will have to drastically reduce their emissions levels by 29% during ozone seasons, and the rule would reduce overall NOx emissions by 94,000 tons per year. The proposal also includes smog pollution reduction measures for pipelines and other major industrial polluters. Missouri is also one of 39 states failing to act on its obligations to reduce regional haze from major pollution sources. 

Resources:

• States Covered Under the Power Plant and Other Industries Portions of CSAPR for the 2015 Ozone NAAQS

• Upwind States Contributing Above 1% to Downwind States in 2023 for the 2015 Ozone NAAQS

• State Emissions Reductions from Electric Generating Units 

• State Emissions Reductions from non-Electric Generating Units 

Statement from Jenn DeRose, Missouri Campaign Representative for Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign: 

“Today’s announcement is a positive step for public health, especially for people living downwind from coal-fired power plants in Missouri. For too long, marginalized and overburdened communities have shouldered an unfair burden on their health and well-being without the ability to protect themselves and their families from dangerous air pollution. Reducing pollution that travels across state lines will annually prevent a thousand premature deaths, 2,400 hospital visits, and 1.3 million asthma attacks.  

“What’s frustrating is that Governor Parson is responsible for making sure our state implements federal laws, yet the EPA rejected Missouri’s cross state air pollution plan while we haven't even submitted a regional haze plan. You’d think Governor Parson would follow the law as a former Sheriff, yet it appears he’s allowing utilities to operate above the law. 

“Ameren Missouri has known for a long time that its Labadie coal plant is one of the largest sources of nitrogen oxide pollution in the country and that it would need to clean up its act. This is the same utility that operated its Rush Island coal plant in violation of the Clean Air Act, so we know utility leaders are not going to reduce pollution willingly, even though it’s the right thing to do while also being required by law.”