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Work session on coal ash landfill issue in Franklin County tomorrow

Ameren’s 2,400-megawatt plant near Labadie, Mo. is the state’s largest coal-fired power plant.
(Véronique LaCapra, St. Louis Public Radio)
Ameren’s 2,400-megawatt plant near Labadie, Mo. is the state’s largest coal-fired power plant.

The Board of Commissioners of Franklin County will discuss controversial changes to its zoning ordinance tomorrow.

Up for approval is permit language allowing the utility company AmerenUE to build a coal ash landfill next to its plant in Labadie, Mo.

Patricia Shuban is the Director of the Labadie Environmental Organization, which opposes any rule that would allow Ameren to store toxic substances in the Missouri River floodplain.

"There have been 2 years of hearings and meetings and 90-something people who've testified, experts who have come in, reams of documentation and studies submitted to the county," Shuban said. "This is going to be the first time we actually hear them speak."

Shuban says that unlike some other states Missouri does not do remote testing to see if toxins from coal ash are present in groundwater.

The three-person board is expected to vote on the issue as soon as next week.