Some St. Louis-area environmental watchdogs are criticizing a federal agency's proposal to declare that Missouri's largest coal-fired power plant meets a key air quality standard.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is considering proposing to determine that the Labadie Energy Center in Franklin County is not emitting enough sulfur dioxide to require Ameren to spend millions of dollars to install pollution controls. Critics say Ameren has not installed air monitoring equipment in a large area southeast of the plant, where winds usually push the emissions. They say that means the EPA can't know how the plant affects air pollution.
Ameren says it has a “very robust” monitoring system around the plant.
