Ameren Missouri is asking a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed against the company by the US Environmental Protection Agency.
The suit filed in January alleges that Ameren violated the Clean Air Act by making multi-million-dollar modifications to its coal-fired power plant in Festus without installing required pollution controls and obtaining the necessary permits.
In a court filing Tuesday, Ameren said the complaint just quotes regulations and lacks specific factual allegations about projects at the Rush Island plant. The company also said that most of the claims for civil penalties should be dismissed because the relevant statute of limitations of has expired.
Federal regulators want Ameren to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions, to address any harm caused by the violations, and to pay civil penalties.
Ameren maintains that the modifications at the Festus plant consisted of routine maintenance projects allowed under the Clean Air Act.
