Ameren (MO Electric Utility) Wants To Locate Shiny New Coal Waste Site In Missouri River Floodplain

[hatrack]

EDIT

All of this should be on the minds of Missouri utility regulators today as the Public Service Commission begins hearings on whether to approve a new coal-ash landfill for Ameren Missouri’s coal-fired plant in Labadie, in Franklin County.

Make no mistake, there are huge differences between what Ameren is proposing in Missouri and the coal-ash pond failures in North Carolina. Ameren’s new coal-ash landfill will store the byproduct of its dirtiest Missouri plant in dry form. Currently Ameren stores it in sludge form, in a pond adjacent to the generating plant. The pond has had massive leaks. The landfill will be lined and protected by a levee intended to withstand a 500-year flood.

Missouri is still very coal-dependent and there’s plenty of coal. That’s one reason why our state’s utility rates are lower than most others. The coal-ash has to go somewhere, and all of us who use Ameren’s electricity have some ownership of this problem. But putting it in the floodway of the Missouri River is simply a disaster waiting to happen. This is why the Dan River example should haunt Missourians.

The Missouri serves as a water source for hundreds of thousands of people in the St. Louis region downriver from the Labadie coal-fired power plant. What we know about the Missouri River is this: It will flood. It may not happen in our lifetimes, but it will flood. It will overtop, undermine or otherwise compromise levees. It will change course. It is unpredictable and it will have its own way.

EDIT

http://lakeexpo.com/news/top_stories/article_3d97baf2-b91b-11e3-9315-001a4bcf887a.html

[justhanginon]

1. I am virtually certain that even as I read this

the utility regulators on the Public Service Commission are searching thru their desk drawers looking for the old rubber stamp. The short range corporate friendly decisions and long range stupidity never ceases to amaze.

[misterhighwasted]

2. This mullti billion $ corrupt industry Does Not Give a S**T

Never will. And since they operate on an untouchable global level, they steal pillage & destroy anywhere they see a profit, & when they've exhausted those resources they pack up & move on to another location leaving the toxic mess for anyone who cares enough, to mop up.
That's just what they do. Everywhere.

[Nihil]

3. "there are huge differences" ...

> ... between what Ameren is proposing in Missouri and the coal-ash pond failures in
> North Carolina. Ameren’s new coal-ash landfill will store the byproduct of its dirtiest
> Missouri plant in dry form. Currently Ameren stores it in sludge form

... and the only ("huge" or not) difference between those two forms is "water" ...

Add water to dry ash and it becomes sludge.

What's are easiest ways to add water?
1) From above - rainwater into an impervious container.
2) From the surface - river water on an established flood plain.