Air quality

Ameren Missouri's Labadie Energy Center next to the Missouri River

St. Louis Communities With Polluted Air Are More Vulnerable To The Coronavirus

Eli Chen

Sauget resident Mamie Cosey has complained for years about odors and air pollution from a Veolia incinerator located about a mile from her house. In…

Health, Science & Environment

Cancer Risk From St. Louis Air Pollution Highest In Poor Black Neighborhoods

Eli Chen

Predominantly black neighborhoods in the St. Louis region where poor people live have a much higher exposure to carcinogenic air pollution than white…

Ameren's 2,400-megawatt plant near Labadie, Missouri, is the state's largest coal-fired power plant. It produces an average of 550,000 tons of coal ash each year.

Health, Science & Environment

Federal Judge Orders Ameren To Install Air Pollution Controls At Two Power Plants

Eli Chen

A federal judge on Monday ordered Ameren Missouri to install devices at its power plants in Festus and Labadie to remove harmful air pollutants. U.S.…

Cenya Davis puffs on her inhaler earlier this month. The 8-year-old student at Gateway Elementary School in St. Louis has been to the hospital three times for breathing trouble starting in December. She now regularly uses the inhaler.

Health, Science & Environment

Black Children In St. Louis Far More Likely To Visit The ER For Asthma Than Whites

Sarah Fentem

The vast majority of St. Louis emergency room visits for asthma are from black children, according to report from Mayor Lyda Krewson’s office.The Equity…

Maryland Heights resident and environmental activist Dawn Chapman at a meeting held by Missouri health officials in January 2019.

Health, Science & Environment

Residents, Workers Near Bridgeton Landfill Grill Missouri Health Officials About Harmful Odors

Eli Chen

Dozens of people who live or work near the Bridgeton Landfill demanded answers late Monday from state health officials they met with to discuss a recent…

Health, Science & Environment

Air-quality plan for Metro East incinerator may relax heavy-metal monitoring requirements

Eli Chen

This story has been updated to include comments from the EPA.The Environmental Protection Agency could loosen its requirement that an East St. Louis…

Health, Science & Environment

Environmental groups demand stronger air quality controls for Metro East incinerator

Eli Chen

Environmental and faith groups are calling for the Environmental Protection Agency to increase air monitoring around a hazardous waste incinerator in East…

Piles of concrete and brick line a fence separating the former Pruitt-Igoe housing development from the Gateway school complex. Parents and staff at the school say placing the rubble there stirred levels of dust high enough to sicken students and teachers

Education

NGA site debris moved next to a St. Louis school, air monitoring didn’t follow

Ryan Delaney

Demolition and excavation work for a new federal intelligence agency headquarters in north St. Louis received environmental scrutiny and regulation that…

Parents and staff blame illnesses inside the Gateway school complex on debris brought over from the site of the planned National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency headquarters. The piles tower over a fence next to the school. May 6, 2018.

Education

‘Dust bowl’ created by NGA project demolition blamed for sickening kids, teachers

Ryan Delaney

Isaiah Carson was happy and healthy on an early April afternoon as he worked on spelling with his dad at the family’s kitchen table.That wasn’t the case a…

Health, Science & Environment

Missouri Air Conservation Commission approves plan to show EPA that Jefferson County air is cleaner

Eli Chen

Jefferson County is one step closer to attaining the federal clean air standard for sulfur dioxide, a noxious gas that can cause asthma and respiratory…