SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
For Immediate Release
March, 31 2016, 12:15pm EDT
Contact:
Emily Rosenwasser, Emily.Rosenwasser@sierraclub.org, 720-308-6055
After EPA Rejection of Weak Missouri Air Pollution Proposal, 600 Missourians Speak Out In Support of Protecting Communities from Dangerous Sulfur Dioxide
EPA Comment Period on Process to Designate Parts of St. Charles County and Franklin County as Failing Air Quality Standards Ends 3/31
LABADIE, M.O.
Today, nearly 600 comments from Missouri citizens were delivered to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Senators Claire McCaskill and Roy Blunt and many U.S. Representatives voicing support for steps to designate parts of St. Charles and Franklin Counties as failing to attain air quality standards for sulfur dioxide (SO2) pollution.
The main sources of SO2 pollution are coal-fired power plants. Ameren operates three coal-fired power plants without modern pollution controls in the St. Louis metro area, including Ameren's Labadie coal-fired power plant in Franklin County. Pollution controls that have been available for decades could reduce the Labadie plant's SO2 emissions by about 98 percent. Ameren's Labadie coal-fired power plant is the largest source of SO2 pollution in the state, and one of the largest sources in the country.
In February, the U.S. EPA issued a letter to Missouri Governor Jay Nixon indicating the agency's intention to reject the Missouri Department of Natural Resources' (DNR) earlier weak recommendation for the area.
"The public health tragedy and state failure in Flint, Michigan prove that it is more important than ever for state agencies and public officials to be vigilant about protections for public health," said Patricia Schuba with the Labadie Environmental Organization. "DNR had the data that clearly showed there is a public health issue attributable to Ameren's coal pollution, but it chose to stand with industry rather than people. We've spoken out to the EPA and our state leaders so they know they have our support to do what's right."
The U.S. EPA is required to make a final decision by July 2016 about SO2 air pollution around the Labadie coal plant, and was accepting recommendations from the state until fall of 2015. In September 2015, DNR made a disappointing recommendation to designate the area as "unclassifiable," despite the agency's own modeling data that showed clear SO2 pollution violations.
"Ameren has failed to install well-proven, modern pollution controls at Labadie while DNR disregarded EPA requirements for classifying the area as polluted. We thank the EPA for protecting the health of Missourians and we urge public officials to stand up for Missouri's health too," said Andy Knott, Senior Campaign Representative with the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign in Missouri.
Exposure to sulfur dioxide pollution from coal plants and other sources for as little as five minutes can cause lung function impacts, asthma attacks, and respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Children and elderly adults with asthma are particularly at risk for adverse health effects from short-term sulfur dioxide pollution exposure.
The Sierra Club is the most enduring and influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. We amplify the power of our 3.8 million members and supporters to defend everyone's right to a healthy world.
(415) 977-5500LATEST NEWS
Leading Economists Endorse UN Expert's 'Economy of Genocide' Report After Trump Attack
A group of economists, including Thomas Piketty and Yanis Varoufakis, expressed solidarity with Francesca Albanese as the Trump administration pushes for her removal as U.N. special rapporteur on occupied Palestine.
Jul 08, 2025
A group of world-renowned economists has penned an open letter expressing support for United Nations expert Francesca Albanese's recent report scrutinizing the integral role that powerful corporations have played in sustaining Israel's genocidal assault on Palestinians in the illegally occupied territories.
The letter, first obtained and published in English by Zeteo on Monday, characterizes Albanese's report as "a major contribution to understanding the political economy of Israel's apartheid state, the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, and, now, their genocide," and argues her findings "must be studied and debated widely and freely."
The letter's signatories include former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, French economist Thomas Piketty, and University of Massachusetts Amherst economics professor Jayati Ghosh.
The economists' endorsement of Albanese's report comes days after the Trump administration issued a statement calling on United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres to remove her as special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories. The statement was released a day after the publication of Albanese's report, which the Trump administration characterizes as part of "an unacceptable campaign of political and economic warfare against the American and worldwide economy."
The top economists cited the Trump administration's statement as a key impetus behind their decision to publicly back Albanese's work.
"In view of the virulently hostile and indeed intimidating letter from the U.S. government to the U.N. secretary-general demanding the dismissal of Ms. Albanese and the quashing of her excellent report, we felt the need to express our strong support for Ms. Albanese and to encourage the U.N. to dismiss the shrill demands of the U.S. and Israeli governments," the economists wrote.
"Following a well-trodden path of genocide denial and of bullying anyone who challenges the right of the colonial power to dispossess Indigenous peoples," they continued, "the U.S. and Israeli governments, with most European governments too timid to take a stance, demand that the international community turn a blind eye to the ongoing genocide and, in particular, to the key role that multinational and national corporations are playing in maintaining the apartheid regime and enabling the subsequent genocide."
This is not business as usual.
My new UN report, From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide, is out today.
It shows how corporations have fueled and legitimised the destruction of Palestine.
Genocide, it would seem, is profitable. This cannot continue, accountability must… pic.twitter.com/Ei3atw0TQ1
— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) July 1, 2025
Albanese's report thoroughly documents corporate complicity and direct participation in Israel's assault on Palestinians, specifically naming dozens of corporations in a range of sectors—from Lockheed Martin to Microsoft to Chevron to Palantir.
"The complex web of corporate structures—and the often obscured links between parents and subsidiaries, franchises, joint ventures, licensees, etc.—implicates many more," Albanese wrote. "Israel's ongoing illegal occupation of the oPt creates an untenable situation for corporate entities to simply continue business as usual."
"The private sector must, in its own interests, urgently reconsider all engagement connected to Israel's economy of occupation and now genocide," she added.
Keep ReadingShow Less
'This Fight Is Just Beginning': Federal Judge Blocks Trump-GOP Law's Attack on Planned Parenthood
"There are no other providers who can fill the gap if the 'defunding' of Planned Parenthood is allowed to stand," said the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and two state chapters.
Jul 08, 2025
A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked a provision of the new Republican budget law that bars Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood health centers across the United States, an attack that reproductive rights advocates warn could shutter hundreds of clinics nationwide.
The decision by Judge Indira Talwani of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, an Obama appointee, came shortly after the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its chapters in Massachusetts and Utah sued over the provision, which establishes a one-year Medicaid funding ban for healthcare organizations that provide abortions and received more than $800,000 in federal funding in 2023.
The lawsuit argues that the "clear purpose" of the provision is to "categorically prohibit health centers associated with Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid reimbursements... in order to punish them for lawful activity, namely advocating for and providing legal abortion access wholly outside the Medicaid program and without using any federal funds."
The provision therefore "violates plaintiffs' Equal Protection and First Amendment rights," the lawsuit states.
Talwani ordered the Trump administration to "take all steps necessary to ensure that Medicaid funding continues to be disbursed in the customary manner and timeframes" to Planned Parenthood and its members as the case proceeds.
Planned Parenthood welcomed Talwani's decision to issue a temporary injunction but stressed that the legal battle is far from over.
"We're grateful that the court acted swiftly to block this unconstitutional law attacking Planned Parenthood providers and patients," the organization said in a statement late Monday. "Already, in states across the country, providers and health center staff have been forced to turn away patients who use Medicaid to get basic sexual and reproductive healthcare because President Trump and his backers in Congress passed a law to block them from going to Planned Parenthood."
"There are no other providers who can fill the gap if the 'defunding' of Planned Parenthood is allowed to stand," the group added. "The fight is just beginning, and we look forward to our day in court."
"The Trump administration's hell-bent ambitions to close our clinics and abandon our patients won't stop us."
Planned Parenthood warned that if the provision—which anti-abortion groups praised—is allowed to stand, nearly 200 health centers across dozens of states would be at risk of permanent closure due to the one-year Medicaid funding ban and more than a million patients could lose access to care, including STI treatment, cancer screenings, and birth control.
According to Planned Parenthood, 60% of its health centers are located in areas that are rural, medically underserved, or plagued by a shortage of healthcare professionals.
More than half of Planned Parenthood member patients rely on Medicaid to access crucial health services, the group estimates.
"The Trump administration's hell-bent ambitions to close our clinics and abandon our patients won't stop us," said Dominique Lee, president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts. "Let me be crystal clear: We are not intimidated. We were built for this moment. Here in Massachusetts, we fight back, and we will never be bullied into turning our backs on healthcare or human rights."
Keep ReadingShow Less
100+ People Dead in Texas—Just 2 Months After Former National Weather Service Chiefs Warned of 'Nightmare' Scenario
While the agency and outside meteorologists say the NWS provided timely and accurate forecasts, the fatal flooding is generating fresh alarm about cuts and open positions.
Jul 07, 2025
As the official death toll from catastrophic flooding in Texas ticked above 100 on Monday, concerns over vacancies as well as job and potential funding cuts at the National Weather Service continued to mount—even as the NWS and independent meteorologists insisted that the agency had "issued timely warnings in advance of the deadly floods."
The flooding came just over two months after all living former directors of the NWS published a letter sounding the alarm about President Donald Trump's proposed budget for fiscal year 2026 and its cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the parent agency of the NWS in the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The five men—Louis Uccellini, Jack Hayes, Brig. Gen. D.L. Johnson, Brig. Gen. John J. Kelly Jr., and E.W. "Joe" Friday—wrote on May 2 that "even if the National Weather Service remains level funded, given the interconnectedness of all of the parts of NOAA, there will be impacts to weather forecasting as well. We cannot let this happen."
"These proposed cuts come just days after approximately 300 National Weather Service... employees left the public service to which they had devoted their lives and careers," the ex-directors pointed out. "That's on top of the approximately 250 NWS employees who were fired as a result of their probationary status in new—often higher-level positions—or took the initial buyout offered by the Trump administration in early February."
"That leaves the nation's official weather forecasting entity at a significant deficit—down more than 10% of its staffing—just as we head into the busiest time for severe storm predictions like tornadoes and hurricanes," they continued. "Our worst nightmare is that weather forecast offices will be so understaffed that there will be needless loss of life. We know that's a nightmare shared by those on the forecasting frontlines—and by the people who depend on their efforts."
Discussing recent job reductions with The Associated Press on Monday, Uccellini, whose tenure leading NWS included Trump's first term, warned that "this situation is getting to the point where something could break."
"The people are being tired out, working through the night and then being there during the day because the next shift is short-staffed," he said. "Anything like that could create a situation in which important elements of forecasts and warnings are missed."
For the flooding in Texas, the NWS Austin-San Antonio office had five meteorologists working, rather than two, as part of its "surge staffing" protocol.
However, Tom Fahy, the legislative director for the NWS Employees Organization, a union that represents government workers, also told NBC News that the agency's Austin-San Antonio office does not have a permanent science officer, who conducts training for and implements new technology, or a warning coordination meteorologist, who has contact with media.
That office "is operating with 11 staff meteorologists and is down six employees from its typical full staffing level of 26," NBC reported. The nearby San Angelo office "is short four staff members from its usual staffing level of 23. The meteorologist-in-charge position—the office's top leadership position—is not permanently filled. The office is also without a senior hydrologist."
Despite some open positions at the two offices, the NWS began warning of potential flooding as early as Thursday morning, and as conditions worsened overnight, the agency issued its first warning for "life-threatening flash flooding" for parts of Kerr County at 1:14 am Central Time Friday, according to CNN.
"But questions remain about how many people they reached, whether critical vacancies at the forecast offices could have affected warning dissemination, and if so-called warning fatigue had been growing among residents in a region described as one of the most dangerous in the country for flash flooding," the network noted.
As Fahy put it to Politico: "The crux of this disaster is a failure of the last mile of communication... The forecasts went out, they communicated the forecasts, they disseminated the watches and warnings. And the dilemma we have is there was nobody listening at 4 o'clock in the morning for these watches and warnings."
Wisconsin-based meteorologist Chris Vagasky similarly told NBC that "the forecasting was good. The warnings were good. It's always about getting people to receive the message... It appears that is one of the biggest contributors—that last mile."
As The New York Times reported:
In an interview, Rob Kelly, the Kerr County judge and its most senior elected official, said the county did not have a warning system because such systems are expensive, and local residents are resistant to new spending.
"Taxpayers won't pay for it," Mr. Kelly said. Asked if people might reconsider in light of the catastrophe, he said, "I don't know."
As of Monday evening, 104 people are confirmed dead, most of them in Kerr County, which includes Camp Mystic, a Christian all-girls summer camp that lost at least 27 campers and counselors. The AP reported that "search-and-rescue teams carried on with the search for the dead, using heavy equipment to untangle trees and wading into swollen rivers. Volunteers covered in mud sorted through chunks of debris, piece by piece, in an increasingly bleak task."
In a statement to multiple news outlets, the NWS provided a detailed timeline of its alerts. The agency also said that it "is heartbroken by the tragic loss of life in Kerr County" and "remains committed to our mission to serve the American public through our forecasts and decision support services."
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Monday sent a letter to Roderick Anderson, acting inspector general at the Department of Commerce, urging an investigation into "the scope, breadth, and ramifications of whether staffing shortages at key local National Weather Service... stations contributed to the catastrophic loss of life and property during the deadly flooding."
"The roles left unfilled are not marginal, they're critical," he emphasized. "These are the experts responsible for modeling storm impacts, monitoring rising water levels, issuing flood warnings, and coordinating directly with local emergency managers about when to warn the public and issue evacuation orders. To put it plainly: They help save lives."
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt lashed out at him and reporters for such scrutiny on Monday, saying that "unfortunately, in the wake of this once-in-a-generation natural disaster, we have seen many falsehoods pushed by Democrats such as Sen. Chuck Schumer and some members of the media. Blaming President Trump for these floods is a depraved lie, and it serves no purpose during this time of national mourning."
In addition to the president's so-called Department of Government Efficiency—previously led by billionaire Elon Musk, the richest person on Earth—pushing layoffs and retirements, Trump's administration is working to boost fossil fuels that drive the global climate emergency.
As Common Dreams reported earlier Monday, a study published by ClimaMeter found that the floods in Texas were caused by "very exceptional meteorological conditions" that cannot be explained merely by natural variability.
Former Common Dreams staff writer Kenny Stancil is a senior researcher at the Revolving Door Project, which has documented "Trump's attacks on disaster preparedness and response."
"The deadly Texas floods will not be the last manifestation of extreme weather turbocharged by fossil fuel pollution," Stancil wrote in a Monday blog post. "In an era of escalating climate threats, we need a stronger public sector with more resources to mitigate risks, help people weather storms, and adapt to the future."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular