"A push by Missouri regulators to change permitting requirements for coal ash ponds has environmental groups worried important safeguards will be lifted and toxic chemicals and metals could leach into groundwater with few protections.
The Missouri Department of Natural Resources is seeking to move some ash ponds from stringent, site-specific permits to the general permit with few limitations or monitoring requirements. Environmentalists argue the move would give utilities legal cover to keep polluting. DNR says the general permit does not represent a relaxing of requirements for the sites.
“It allows for the continued leaching of pollutants in perpetuity into the groundwater, into the rivers and into the streams of Missouri from coal ash dumps,” said Tara Rocque, assistant director of the Interdisciplinary Environmental Clinic at Washington University in St. Louis.
Rocque and about 20 Missouri residents, environmental advocates and attorneys decried the proposal during a public comment session on Tuesday."
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