Ameren’s Missouri air pollution put on blast by federal judge [Video]

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Mo. — Ameren Missouri is facing new legal orders after a federal judge ruled the company isn’t doing enough to curb air pollution being emitted from its Rush Island Energy Center outside of St. Louis.

Judge Rodney Sippel with the US District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri said on June 14 that the company neglected multiple court orders to lower sulfur dioxide emissions from the Jefferson County plant, causing adverse health and environmental conditions for residents downwind of the plant.

“These emissions harm public health and the environment, contribute to premature deaths, asthma attacks, acid rain, and other adverse effects in downwind communities including the St. Louis Metropolitan Area,” Sippel said in a recent ruling. “Rush Island continued its unpermitted pollution of tens of thousands of tons …