Sierra Club

Ameren Missouri announced it will close its Rush Island coal plant in Festus over the next few years

The decision upholds a 2017 ruling by a lower court and part of a 2019 order that Ameren install pollution controls at the coal plant.

Despite sharing many individual goals, local environmental groups largely confined their advocacy to their home state.

Environmental advocates say water used for cooling Ameren’s Labadie Energy Center, along with toxic contaminants leaching from coal ash ponds, pose a risk to wildlife and the surrounding area.

Earlier this year, the Sierra Club released “The Dirty Truth About Utility Climate Pledges,” a report grading 50 utility companies across the U.S. on their transition from coal to clean energy. Ameren Missouri is among them and received a D.

The Sierra Club released a report Monday that gave top utilities a letter grade based on climate actions. The environmental group gave Ameren a D, citing its lack of action on retiring coal.

The Veolia incinerator is listed as one of eight sites authorized by the Department of Defense to dispose of PFAS firefighting foam. The United Congregations of Metro East, the Sierra Club and other environmental organizations are suing the Department of Defense to block the potential disposal pending an environmental review.

Black St. Louisans disproportionately feel the burden of the region's environmental issues—something activists say is not an accident.

Ameren Missouri officials announced Monday that the company will invest nearly $8 billion in renewable energy over the next 20 years. Ameren plans to retire its coal-fired coal plants by 2042.

Black people and other minorities who work for mainstream environmental advocacy organizations in the St. Louis region struggle to fit in and make their ideas heard. But without them, environmental organizations are ill-equipped to serve communities of color.