In June of 2023 the Sierra Club sent a letter to the United States Environmental Protection Agency Region 7 in support of a Federal Implementation Plan to deal with haze pollution in Missouri. This is an immediate problem that affects wildlife as well as our ability to breathe and every day burning fossil fuels makes the problem worse. A new report from the Sierra Club estimates that coal-fired power plants still cause 3,800 premature deaths per year due to particulate matter pollution and just ten percent of plants are responsible for over half of these deaths.
Air pollution causes a variety of health effects, but the impacts of greatest concern are premature death, lung cancer, heart attacks, stroke, dementia and adverse neurological disease. Other less severe impacts include coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath. The impact of air pollution isn’t equally shared, with people with low incomes, seniors, children under 18, and communities of color being disproportionately impacted. Our communities don’t deserve to suffer preventable harm due to MoDNR’s inaction. Our pollution can also impact surrounding areas that may not even be contributing to the problem. The consequences of not intervening are vast.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency needs to step in and intervene because the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MoDNR) constantly fails to adequately deal with the problem. For example, MoDNR recently released a State Implementation Plan (SIP) to reduce ozone pollution in the St. Louis region that involved nothing more than promises to check current levels every few years and draft a new plan if the problem was not solved. The EPA commented that the plan is “expected to have no impact on air quality.” The Haze SIP was similarly ineffective. Time and time again, MoDNR does far too little to address the environmental issues that threaten our health and wellbeing.
At the same time, the Missouri state government is hard at work pushing an anti-environment agenda that will make environmental protection in our state even harder. In 2021, state senators approved a bill allowing eligible startup companies to be exempt from all health and environmental regulations: all of them. Missouri Attorney General Bailey is also keen on fighting all forms of environmental protection, allowing Missouri’s air pollution to reach levels so high they harm health outcomes in neighboring states.
The Sierra Club constantly engages with MoDNR in order to do what we can to protect our land, air and water. Unfortunately, over many years MoDNR has repeatedly shown an inability to act in the best interest of Missourians and our shared environment. Read our letter below to better understand MoDNR potential for further action, the opposition MoDNR faces in the House and Senate, and why a Regional Haze Federal Implementation Plan is so vital.
Our letter has demonstrated multiple recent cases where MoDNR has failed in its duty to us - click here to read the letter and learn the details.