By Billy Davies, Missouri Chapter Conservation Program Coordinator (Kansas City)
The Missouri Department of Natural Resources (“DNR”) was established to protect the health and well-being of Missourians and plays a critical role in ensuring our communities and the environment are protected. Unfortunately, in recent years many decisions over how the agency enforces U.S.’s bedrock environmental laws have been made for the benefit of polluters seeking profits over the needs of the people--from missed opportunities to strengthen air and water quality protections to attempts by some legislators to dismantle protection programs altogether. It does not have to be this way, and everyday Missourians can and must play a critical role in ensuring that DNR fulfills its obligation to people and the environment.
There are two ways in which Missourians play a central role guiding and strengthening environmental protection by DNR: commenting on proposed permits for polluting facilities and participating in one of the state’s many citizen regulatory boards. Sierra Club members regularly lead initiatives along with allies to comment on decisions before regulatory bodies, and several have served on boards, but why are these processes so important and why should more residents be involved? The Missouri Chapter had the chance to speak with Sarah Rubenstein, Staff Attorney with the Missouri-based Great Rivers Environmental Law Center, to hear her guidance as an expert in the field.
Permits
Great Rivers regularly participates in permit review processes for things such as power plants and manufacturing complexes. By issuing a permit for a facility, DNR can set limits on pollutants that are harmful to local communities and the environment that become legally enforceable by DNR and even the public. However, Rubenstein shared that DNR has made it a habit of issuing permits that fall woefully short in protecting the public. Some shortcomings that have become ubiquitous include not requiring enough monitoring to be able to determine whether polluters actually represent a health risk or if the facilities are obeying the law, not requiring the result of the limited amount of monitoring to be reported regularly, and making minimal effort to involve the public in permitting decisions. “These shortcomings are a dangerous combination for the health and well-being of people living, working, attending school or recreating near the sources of pollution,” Rubenstein says. But this is where the public can step in to make things improve and hold decision-makers at DNR accountable.
“Missouri citizens can have an impact on [permitting] process by staying informed about DNR’s permitting efforts…providing written comments to DNR as draft permits are issued requesting more stringent requirements, or even requesting public hearings and providing oral testimony at hearings.” Great Rivers regularly assists stakeholders in preparing and submitting comments, and worked with the Missouri Chapter to prepare comments on recent air permits for facilities in the Kansas City area.
Citizen Boards
Another area where Rubenstein says Missourians can play a major role in improving environmental protection is on citizen regulatory boards, which are tasked with making critical decisions over the enforcement of environmental safeguards. “Missouri’s citizen regulatory boards act as a check on Missouri’s environmental agencies. For example, the Air Conservation Commission has the power to make rules protecting the quality of the air in our state; the power to hear appeals of air permits...and is empowered to bring legal enforcement actions to enforce Missouri’s air quality laws.”
Missouri’s citizen boards are required to be non-partisan and have requirements for some seats to be filled by people with no connection to regulated industries, and certain seats are reserved for those with political affiliations that are different from the Governor, who appoints board members. “Disturbingly, many vacancies currently exist on these commissions,” Rubenstein says. “Governor Parson has filled most of Missouri’s environmental commissions with all of the republicans from industry that he can pack on them – but has left vacant all of the remaining spots that should be filled with democrats, independents, and public citizens.” The Sierra Club Missouri Chapter, Great Rivers, and numerous environmental, health, and government accountability advocates have stressed that this is a travesty for the environment, prevents the public from playing the important oversight role Missouri laws intended, and undermines the health and well-being of Missouri citizens. But here again, Missourians have a role to play and can make things right.
In order to address this issue, Great Rivers is encouraging as many interested people as possible to apply for vacancies on Missouri’s citizen boards, and it has put together materials that explain the commissions and identify vacancies. Rubenstein and her colleagues are available to assist anyone interested in applying for an opening.
The Missouri Chapter is proud to work alongside dedicated allies like Sarah Rubenstein, Great Rivers, and so many others across the state working to ensure the voices of Missourians are heard and their needs are centered in environmental policy-making. Get resources and connect with Great Rivers by visiting their website, greatriverslaw.org. To get more involved in advocacy with DNR in your community, feel free to connect with Conservation Program Coordinator, Billy Davies, at william.davies@sierraclub.org, or visit our website.