EPA Regional Administrator Karl Brooks says the federal government is confident Ameren Missouri violated the Clean Air Act at its Rush Island power plant near Festus.
Brooks was responding to a letter sent to the EPA last month by Senator Roy Blunt.
In the letter, Blunt defended Ameren and accused the EPA of overreaching its authority in order to “broadly penalize the use of coal in the United States.”
Brooks said the EPA can’t provide too many details about ongoing litigation. “What we can assure people in the area is that there was a very careful review done of a lot of documentation and a lot of operational evidence before EPA made this conclusion that there needed to be a New Source Review permit and that the company needed to put in better pollution control equipment,” Brooks said.
Brooks said Ameren made major modifications to the Jefferson County plant without obtaining the necessary permits or adding required pollution controls.
Ameren denies any wrongdoing, saying the modifications were routine maintenance projects that did not increase emissions.
The EPA formally responded to Senator Blunt in a letter sent last week.
Read Blunt's letter and the EPA response.
