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6/25/09 Save the Current & Jacks Fork Rivers Again!


The National Park Service is hosting only two more meetings - in Columbia today and in St. Louis on Friday - on their Draft General Management Plan for Current and Jacks Fork Rivers that are part of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways in southern Missouri. You can help shape the plan so that it saves these rivers. Your first opportunity is at these public meetings (they are Open House style - so drop in anytime between 3:30-7):

Thursday, June 25, 3:30-7PM
Courtyard by Marriott
3301 Lemone Industrial Blvd, Columbia, MO 65201

Friday, June 26, 3:30-7PM
Crowne Plaza Hotel
7750 Carondelet Avenue, Clayton, MO 63105

There are times when the Coalition can act effectively on your behalf. However, this is a time when direct citizen participation is needed.

The Current River and its tributary the Jacks Fork, are among the finest free-flowing river resources in the nation. They are legendary for their constant flow of clear, cool waters. Fed by more than 350 springs, including the 278 million-gallon-per-day Big Spring which is one of the largest springs in North America, and the dazzling Blue Spring, the 134 miles of the Current and Jacks Fork rivers flow through beautiful Ozark country. The land and rivers offer memorable recreation experiences in a landscape of numerous caves and vibrant wildlife. Because of its amazing character, the Current and Jacks Fork Rivers were designated in 1964 by Congress as the Ozark National Scenic Riverways and are part of America's National Park System. These rivers and their valleys are not surpassed in America for quality, richness, and beauty.

The people of Missouri lead the effort to designate and protect these outstanding rivers. Now, 45 years later, the Current and Jacks Fork Rivers need our help and attention again. All is not well, but we have an opportunity to make a positive difference and ensure the health of the rivers 45 years from now.

Attend the meeting if you can. Ask questions. Share your experiences and views of the river. What do you want the rivers to be in 25 years?

Whether you can make a meeting or not, plan on getting your comments in by July 31.

To learn more, you can also view a new Missouri Parks Association and Friends of Ozark Riverways documentary entitled Why We Must Save the Current River, Again. For the first time ever, it tells the story of the Riverways from the conservationist point of view. It reminds us all of those who went before and why they saved the Current and Jacks Fork rivers, and why we must follow their example, and save the rivers, again.

If you cannot attend one of the National Park Service public meetings, please review the plan and submit your comments in support of better management practices including implementation of appropriate usage standards. Every comment counts, so please make yours. You may also submit comments in writing and, most recommended, electronically.

The new General Management Plan needs to put the health of the rivers first, because human populations will always put pressure on resources like the Riverways.

Special thanks to those of you who have attended the meetings in Van Buren, Eminence, and Salem this week.

Please do send us your stories - good and bad - of experiences at the Riverways.

You will also receive an update on the plan in July before the final comment deadline.

 

6/8/09 Save the Current River - Again!


There are times when we are called to stand for what, once lost, cannot be reclaimed. This is one of those times. You have an opportunity to be a important voice in a series of public meetings the National Park Service is hosting.

The Ozark National Scenic Riverways (The Riverways) is Missouri's most important piece of public land. Over 40 years ago, the federal government designated the Current and Jack Fork Rivers as the first protected riverways, preserving for future generations 80,000 acres along 134 miles of the pristine rivers.

Because of its magnificent, clear, spring-fed waters, the Riverways' use as a recreational retreat has increased to a level that now threatens the health of the waters. The waters are not as clear as they once were and many are troubled by the area's deterioration.

The National Park Service is entrusted with the long-term care and protection of the Riverways, but has failed to implement appropriate measures to stem the tide of overuse. We want the Riverways to be clean, healthy, and safe for today's Americans, and for future generations. It is time to recommit to the vision.

The original management plan called for limited access points, but there are hundreds of trails and roads leading straight to the water's edge. Each additional access point means more people, more footprints.

Off-road vehicle and ATV use has the potential to completely devastate a natural area by compacting soil, destroying plants, and increasing runoff and pollution. Vehicles plowing through sandbars and shallows, along with motor boats, also impede use by those who seek a truly natural and safe environment for canoeing, fishing, swimming, and camping.

Many of those who love the Ozark wilderness enjoy it on horseback. But in excess, even this can cause damage. When as many as 3,000 horses and riders access the waters in a single weekend, their waste can overwhelm the capacity of natural systems making certain areas unsafe for swimming. This level of use can also impact banks, increase sediment, cause erosion, and harm wildlife habitats.

Conservation easements that are in place at taxpayer expense to preserve the historical and scenic landscape have been unenforced, leading to violations that have altered the landscape and threaten the beauty of the Riverways.

Other National Parks that safeguard natural resources, like the Buffalo National River and Yellowstone National Park, have management plans that balance recreational use and sustainable natural resource standards. At long last, the Parks Service is seeking public input for a new Ozark National Scenic Riverways General Management Plan.

This is a time when direct citizen participation is needed. Your first opportunity is a week-long series of public meetings:

Monday, June 22, 5-8PM
Van Buren Community Center, Intersection of D Hwy and Business 60, Van Buren, MO 63965

Tuesday, June 23, 5-8PM
Eminence High School New Gym, 1 Redwing Drive (College Drive), Eminence, MO 65466

Wednesday, June 24, 5-8PM
Ozark Natural & Cultural Resource Center, 202 S. Main Street (Hwy 19), Salem, MO 65560

Thursday, June 25, 3:30-7PM
Courtyard by Marriott, 3301 Lemone Industrial Blvd, Columbia, MO 65201

Friday, June 26, 3:30-7PM
Crowne Plaza Hotel, 7750 Carondelet Avenue, Clayton, MO 63105

If you cannot attend one of the National Park Service public meetings, please review the plan and submit your comments in support of better management practices including implementation of appropriate usage standards. Every comment counts, so please make yours. You may also submit comments in writing and, most recommended, electronically.

To learn more, you can view and share a new Missouri Parks Association and Friends of Ozark Riverways documentary entitled Why We Must Save the Current River, Again. For the first time ever, it tells the story of the Riverways from the conservationist point of view. It reminds us all of those who went before and why they saved the Current and Jacks Fork rivers, and why we must follow their example and save the rivers, again.

Please be a Friend to Ozark Riverways. You can make a difference if you speak up.

 

5/28/09 Legislative Recap and Your Action Needed on Climate Bill


Advancing key environmental policy issues in Missouri requires strong lobbying efforts in the state capitol. It also requires a strong voice that can stand up to the often well-financed efforts of special interests. The Missouri Coalition for the Environment is a proud member on one such effort - the Missouri Conservation and Environmental Alliance (MCEA). MCEA is a coalition of diverse conservation and environmental organizations in Missouri.

MCEA members meet regularly to coordinate their legislative priorities, to educate state legislators about issues of common concern that are impacting Missouri's environment, and to fund common lobbying efforts in Jefferson City. Missouri Votes Conservation founded the alliance in 2007 to increase the effectiveness of the conservation community in the state.

In the two years since it has been active, MCEA has become a powerful force in helping pass conservation legislation in Missouri. The current partners of MCEA are Audubon Missouri, the Conservation Federation of Missouri, the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, the Missouri Parks Association, the Missouri Sierra Club, the Missouri Recycling Association, Missouri Votes Conservation, and the U.S. Green Building Council St. Louis Regional Chapter.

End of Session report


The 2009 legislative session came to a close on May 15 with some successes for Missouri's environment and some defeats. Below are some highlights or read the full report.

Successes
  • Construction Work in Progress (CWIP) bill was defeated which prevents AmerenUE from charging rate payers for construction of a coal or nuclear plant before it provides electricity.
  • Department of Natural Resources legislation passed, extending the waste tire fee and water pollution fees, and creating an Energy Futures Fund, among other things.
  • Energy efficiency legislation passed to make efficiency more financially attractive to utilities.
  • Audit Privilege (aka "Dirty Secrets") bill failed. This measure gives immunity to companies that self-report pollution spills and other environmental "incidents".
  • Sand and gravel mining legislation passed, which lowers the tonnage of gravel that can be removed from streams and requires counties to notify DNR before mining sand and gravel.
  • Compromise historic tax credits legislation passed, which caps the credit but leaves out small projects.

Disappointments
  • A variety of green building and green energy issues failed, such as tax credits for alternative energy and hybrid cars, the creation of an alternative energy loan authority, requiring energy efficiency ratings of newly constructed residential homes, and establishment of a solar and wind incentives program.
  • A recycled TVs bill failed, which would provide labeling and recycling requirements for television manufacturers.
  • Bonding for state parks bill failed, which would have included $250 million for capital projects including improvements to state parks.
  • Complete Streets and transportation bill failed, which would have required transportation projects to provide consideration for pedestrians, bicyclists, transit users, and people with disabilities.

Support bold action on climate change


As Congress considers the most ambitious overhaul of American energy policy in decades, it is vital that members of Congress hear from you. Hanging in the balance are thousands of new, good-paying green collar jobs, energy independence, and an opportunity to curb global warming pollution before it's too late.

But some of the Missouri delegation is still on the fence. They need to know there is no more time for "wait and see," and the time to create a comprehensive clean energy policy is now. Sign a petition telling Congress that you support bold action on climate change. Your signature will be presented along with thousands of others to Sen. Claire McCaskill, Rep. Roy Blunt and the rest of the members of Congress from Missouri next week.

 

5/21/09 eARThworks: Great Art for a Great Cause


On Saturday, May 30 at 6pm, the Missouri Coalition for the Environment invites you to the eARThworks Art Auction at the Gallery at the Regional Arts Commission at 6128 Delmar in St. Louis. Over sixty regional artists have donated pieces to support the Coalition's work.

The event also will feature a wide array of appetizers from local restaurants and caterers, music by Silk Pajamas, and fire spinning by Tastes Like Burning. Tickets are on a sliding scale of $90 or $35 dollars per person. To reserve tickets, please call 314-727-0600 or register online.

Among the contributing artists are:
Tom Huck, the bad boy of the print world
Nancy Newman Rice, the notable pointillist
Michael Bauermeister, the sculptor who WOOD be king
Elizabeth Concannon, the widely collected collage artist
Paul Shank, fresh from his celebrated retrospective at the Philip Slein Gallery
Heidi Lung, whose sculptural, knotted landscapes are inspired by poetry
Larry Krone, local boy who's taking a big bite out of the Big Apple
And the estate of the esteemed colorist Bill Kohn

We hope to see you there!

 

5/7/09 Art, Sewers, and Highways: What Do They Have in Common?


They all present opportunities for you to get out of the house and do some good in the world this coming week. And at least one of them will be fun to boot!
  • Friday, May 8: eARThworks Opening
  • Wednesday, May 13: Public meeting on St. Louis sewer upgrades
  • Thursday, May 14: Public hearing on Highway 141 expansion

eARThworks Exhibit Opening


The Coalition's benefit art exhibit, eARThworks, opens Friday, May 8, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm at the Regional Arts Commission, 6128 Delmar Boulevard, St. Louis. Please come check out all the great nature -- and recycling -- themed works donated by more than 60 regional painters, sculptors, woodworkers, photographers and other artists.

And don't forget the gala art auction on Saturday, May 30, starting at 6 p.m., which will feature a wide array of appetizers from local restaurants and caterers, music by Silk Pajamas, and fire spinning by Tastes Like Burning. Cost to attend is $35 ($2 cash bar). To reserve tickets, call 727-0600.

Public Meeting on St. Louis Sewer Upgrades


The Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) in St. Louis is being required to finally fix the combined sewer overflows (CSOs) that dump billions of gallons of sewage and stormwater runoff into area streams and rivers every year. It will take time and money, but our streams will be healthier and much safer to use and enjoy.

St. Louis ACORN is partnering with MSD in offering a public meeting Wednesday, May 13, where you can learn more about the proposed system upgrade. Following a presentation on the nature of the problem, there will be breakout sessions on various options MSD is pursuing, their costs, and their environmental impacts. This will be your chance to discuss with MSD and fellow residents the importance of cleaning up St. Louis streams while insisting on greater transparency and accountability from MSD.

The meeting will be held in Tegeler Hall at St. Louis University, 3550 Lindell Boulevard from 6 to 8 pm. Refreshments will be provided.

Public Hearing on the Proposed Highway 141 expansion


The Missouri Highway 141 project, which has been featured prominently in newspapers and other media over the past couple of months, proposes to build two 6-lane highway segments in St. Louis County to widen, relocate, and extend the road between Ladue Road and the Maryland Heights Expressway. It is a very unwise use of federal stimulus dollars, stands to decrease quality of life and property values for local residents, and will destroy some of the only remaining wooded wetlands in St. Louis County. The highway project will also pave the way for further sprawl development in the Howard Bend floodplain.

There will be an Open House Public Hearing on the Highway 141 project on Thursday, May 14, from 4 to 8 pm at the Parkway Central High School gymnasium (369 Woods Mill Road, Chesterfield, MO). For those who are not able to attend the public hearing, you have until May 24 to comment on St. Louis County's Draft Environmental Assessment. Comments can be directed to: John Hicks, St. Louis County Highways & Traffic, 121 South Meramec Avenue, St. Louis, MO, 63105 or to jhicks@stlouisco.com.

Please attend this public hearing and speak out against this ill-advised and environmentally damaging project. For more information on opposition to the project, please visit My Way is No Highway.

We hope to see you often this week!

 

5/1/09 Renewable Energy Events Near You


Learn More about Renewables at Fun Upcoming Events


The next few months are chock full of cool Clean Energy Events across the region. Please check out one of these great events near you:
  • Shawnee Energy Festival, Originally scheduled for May 2-3 (but postponed and rescheduled due to rain) at Green Retreat, just 3 miles outside Carbondale, IL. This festival includes 40 workshops, with topics including energy efficiency, renewable energy, bio-fuels, solar power, off-grid living, and much more. Visit www.ShawneeEnergyFest.com to learn when this is being rescheduled.
  • Columbia Advancing Renewables Conference, Wednesday, June 3, at the Anheuser-Busch Natural Resources Building on the University of Missouri campus. Region-based renewable energy projects and technologies, including the diverse resources of wind, efficiency, biomass, and solar, are discussed and exhibited at this one-day event. Check out www.AdvancingRenewables.org for more information.
  • EcoCar Summer Camp, July 6-10 at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. For rising high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors, this summer camp will incorporate many different engineering disciplines as they explore the boundaries between science, engineering, and the environment. Specifically, they will investigate hydrogen fuel cell cars. If interested, the application deadline is May 31, 2009. For more information and to apply, visit http://summer.mst.edu.
  • 2009 Green Homes Festival, Saturday, September 26 - Grandel Square, the mid-town St. Louis home of the Earthways Center, will become an exciting Green Street Promenade of exhibitors, green vendors, workshops, demonstrations, and kid's activities. Come paint a Metro Bus and build and race a solar car. Learn about efficiency, renewable energy and sustainability. Festival admission and parking is free. Visit www.GreenHomesSTL.org to learn more, to volunteer, or to join us as an exhibitor or sponsor.

 

4/27/09 Still On the Table: Ten Percent for Missouri State Parks


Next week is about our last chance to help secure funding for Missouri park infrastructure in this General Assembly session. For all those camp fire memories, summer float trips, fall hikes, school field trips and family traditions you have involving our state parks, please make this call.

Please call the members of the committee and encourage them to secure 10% for state parks.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
* Gary Nodler, 32nd, Chairman
* Rob Mayer, 25th, Vice-Chairman
* Tom Dempsey, 23rd
* David Pearce, 31st
* Chuck Purgason, 33rd
* Scott Rupp, 2nd
* Kurt Schaefer, 19th
* Frank Barnitz, 16th
* Joan Bray, 24th
* Tim Green, 13th
* Yvonne Wilson, 9th

Please CALL 573-751-2000 and ask to be transferred to the office of a committee member.

Background

Missouri is widely recognized as having one of the finest systems of state parks and historic sites in the nation, attracting 16 million visitors a year. This is a tribute to Missouri citizens who take pride in our state and its parks and have cared enough to support them over the years. In each of the past five biennia Missouri was one of the three or four finalists for the gold medal for state park systems, which each year went to a larger, better funded system.

But this stature and the future quality of our state parks and historic sites are in serious jeopardy unless they receive a major infusion of capital improvement funds to maintain and upgrade aging facilities. Our parks have not received major capital project investment since the 1980s and the wear and tear is showing. Such funds are available in this time of economic crisis and with your help we can ensure that our state parks and historic sites continue to be sources of enjoyment, pride, and economic stimulus. Please act today to let your representatives in the state legislature know how much you love our state parks, and ask them to support "Ten Percent for State Parks" in any capital improvements bond issue for state facilities (including HJR 32) or any appropriation for capital improvements from federal stimulus funds.

How to Take Action

Please CALL 573-751-2000 and ask to be transferred to the office of a committee member. Or simply use our take action website with an easy-to-send email letter (it is always best to personalize it).

 

4/22/09 Yes, It's a Happy Earth Day!


Is the CWIP bill dead?


Jefferson City reporters are posting stories this afternoon that AmerenUE's bills that would allow construction work in progress charges (CWIP) for new power plants are dead for this session.

Of course we're not entirely convinced some hideous version of this won't be resurrected in some late night, last-ditch effort, but for today, it's good news.

This welcome news comes on the heels of other good news...

St. Louis Council Passes Resolution on Radioactive Waste Site


Last night the St. Louis County Council passed a resolution asking Congress to transfer responsibility of the West Lake radioactive waste site to the Army Corps of Engineers so that it can be cleaned up. This important public action will help convey to federal officials that leaving radioactive waste in the Missouri River floodplain is unacceptable to our community.

You can help get this message across by telling our Senators that the waste needs to be removed from the floodplain.

The West Lake site, located on St. Charles Rock Road at Earth City, is in the geologic floodplain of the Missouri River - a significant drinking water source for the St. Louis region. In 1973, radioactive wastes left over from atomic weapons programs in St. Louis were illegally dumped at West Lake. The site has since become a Superfund site and the EPA had proposed to leave the wastes on site, despite local recommendations that they be removed like the other radioactive wastes in St. Louis. For background on the site, see http://www.moenviron.org/westlake2.asp.

Earth Day Sunday, April 26


Lastly, we hope to see you Sunday at Forest Park in St. Louis from 11-6 p.m. for the annual St. Louis Earth Day Festival events. We are partnering with the River Des Peres Watershed Coalition to help everyone learn how to protect our streams by reducing polluted runoff. You can order a rain barrel, map your role in protecting our region's waters, and join the Coalition.

Have a terrific Earth Day.

Thank you for your membership, support, and effort.

 

4/20/09 Ameren Greenwashes CWIP Bill


Have you been following the drama over electricity rate legislation playing out at the state Capitol this year? It's often more shocking than daytime soaps, complete with corporate buy-outs, name calling, and outright lies.

We anticipated that AmerenUE's effort to overturn the voter-enacted ban on charging rate payers for Construction Work in Progress (CWIP) was going to garner a lot of attention, but who knew their efforts to pass the legislation would be this dishonest?

In a recent TV commercial, Ameren "greenwashes" the CWIP bill with images showing wind and solar technologies. This ad is doubly misleading: wind and solar projects do not require CWIP financing to be built and Ameren's most recent resource plan does not include wind or solar projects.

In reality, overturning the ban on CWIP is for one purpose only - to force ratepayers to assume the risk and expense of a second nuclear reactor at Callaway before the plant delivers any electricity to the ratepayers and with no guarantee the plant will ever produce electricity. It is deceptive to name the bill "the Clean and Renewable Energy Construction Act" and to actively mislead the public into thinking its passage will increase the usage of solar and wind in Missouri. In fact, the CWIP bill does just the opposite because investing $10 billion or more into Callaway 2 leaves little money for investment into renewable sources.

My frustration increased when Tom Voss, president and chief executive of AmerenUE, pointed to the November passage of Proposition C as proof that Missourians favor a new nuclear reactor. Prop C explicitly excluded nuclear power because of its expensive price tag and its public health and environmental impacts.

Beyond Ameren's greenwashing of the bill, the utility company is also misleading the public with blatant miscalculations of the actual price tag of Callaway 2 and the rate impact CWIP will have on consumers. A study by the Missouri Office of Public Counsel reports the CWIP legislation would likely lead to a 40% increase in electric rates, well above the number Ameren officials are telling legislators and the public.

Beyond rate increases, the CWIP bill also requires ratepayers to finance a plant without a guarantee the plant will ever come online. If costs soar or if the project is abandoned after billions are invested, ratepayers would end up paying the bill. It would authorize quarterly rate hikes and dismantle other oversight and rate payer protections.

If Missouri legislators approve CWIP, Missouri is locked into a nuclear future rather than allowing Missouri to transition to proven alternatives that are cleaner, cheaper, and more quickly available. In a free market, nuclear power could not survive because investors won't touch it. The industry is largely reliant on enormous public subsidies. Without the federal government assuming liability risks and a huge portion of the costs for research, processing, storing, and moving radioactive materials, there would be no nuclear industry.

If the General Assembly overturns the ban on CWIP, Missouri ratepayers will be forced to subsidize the nuclear industry even further, delaying the more prudent use of renewable technologies for decades to come. During that time, other states will invest in efficiency improvements and make the transition to renewable energy, and will gain a competitive edge, and attract business and jobs while supplying cheaper and cleaner energy (without producing nuclear waste).

CWIP underwrites a foolish commitment to obsolete technology that simply cannot compete in a free market when wind, solar, and other renewable sources are readily available. If the CWIP boondoggle passes and Callaway 2 is built, Ameren will be the only beneficiary at the expense of consumers, thanks to our state legislators.

In 1976, Missouri voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot initiative that prohibited CWIP charges that was aimed at stopping just such corporate giveaways. Today, polls shows that 82% of Missourians are opposed to overturning the ban on CWIP. CWIP is a corporate bailout for Ameren at the expense of Missouri families already struggling to make ends meets.

Use this form to email your legislator and ask him or her vote no on CWIP. Meanwhile, Ameren should rethink its misleading communication tactics.

 

4/14/09 Act Now: Ten Percent for Missouri State Parks


Missouri is widely recognized as having one of the finest systems of state parks and historic sites in the nation, attracting 16 million visitors a year. This is a tribute to Missouri citizens who take pride in our state and its parks and have cared enough to support them over the years. In each of the past five biennia Missouri was one of the three or four finalists for the gold medal for state park systems, which each year went to a larger, better funded system.

But this stature and the future quality of our state parks and historic sites are in serious jeopardy unless they receive a major infusion of capital improvement funds to maintain and upgrade aging facilities. Our parks have not received major capital project investment since the 1980s and the wear and tear is showing. Such funds are available in this time of economic crisis and with your help we can ensure that our state parks and historic sites continue to be sources of enjoyment, pride, and economic stimulus. Please act today to let your representatives in the state legislature know how much you love our state parks, and ask them to support "Ten Percent for State Parks" in any capital improvements bond issue for state facilities (including HJR 32) or any appropriation for capital improvements from federal stimulus funds.

Reductions in Funding Have Hit Parks and Historic Sites


There is a general perception that state parks do not need additional funding because they receive half of the 1/10th cent parks and soils sales tax. But in fact the capacity provided by this tax, which was designed to provide substantial funding for capital improvements as well as enhanced operations, has been eroded over the past quarter century by the loss of general revenue and multiple diversions and sales tax exemptions to the point where it is no longer sufficient even for basic operations and the most minimal upkeep of facilities.

The result is a backlog of more than $175 million in deferred rehabilitation of facilities and infrastructure, such as water and wastewater systems, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems in visitor centers and other buildings, Katy Trail bridges, culverts and resurfacing, group camps and campgrounds. The current economic crisis simply punctuates a grim reality that has become increasingly obvious to park system leaders and supporters during the past fifteen years.

Opportunity is Knocking


With crisis comes opportunity, and there are several options for dealing with the capital improvement needs of state parks and historic sites in the current session of Missouri General Assembly. One is securing an amendment to include parks in House Joint Resolution 32, which would establish a $700 million Fifth State Building Bond and Interest Fund for buildings and other capital improvements at institutions of higher education. The bonds would be retired with a revenue stream in the state budget freed by the paying off of the $600 million Third State Building Fund of the mid-1980s from which parks received ten percent of the total, the last major capital infusion into the state park system.

The Missouri Parks Association is supporting an amendment to increase the bond issue to $775 million and include ten percent for state parks. The other option is including funds for state park needs in a capital improvements appropriation that may be crafted for use of some of Missouri's nearly $5 billion share of federal stimulus and stabilization funds. Neither will happen unless citizens who care about parks voice their concerns to their state representatives and senators.

Impacts of A Thousand Cuts


The parks and soils sales tax, which was approved by Missouri voters in 1984 and began to produce revenue for parks in fiscal year 1986, was designed as a supplement to the general revenue that supported staff salaries and basic operations, and indeed the legislature maintained general revenue appropriations for a number of years. But at a time of budget crisis following the first successful renewal of the tax by a 69 percent majority vote of the citizenry, general revenue of some $11 million was stripped from the budget, an amount that in today's dollars would be more than $20 million a year.

There were also diversions ("transfers") to other state agencies for expenses such as administration, rent, staff benefits, and other services formerly budgeted through those agencies, amounting by fiscal 1994 to more than $5 million a year. When all state facilities had to be upgraded to meet requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1991, the expenses of other state agencies were covered from a special fund but the cost of more than $12.5 million to state parks, with its many visitor facilities and historic buildings, was again assigned to the sales tax.

By 1994, as MPA leaders and others began planning for the second renewal of the sales tax, it was obvious that the sales tax would be stretched thin just to provide for basic operations, and there would be very little for capital improvements. There was already a growing backlog of deferred maintenance. But it was judged politically far too risky to change the 50:50 parks:soils split or to increase the tax, with basic park operations now so utterly dependent on it. This is when leaders began looking toward the inclusion of parks in another capital improvements bond issue, though retirement of the Third State Building bond issue was still far off. All good state park systems, they realized, benefited from periodic infusions of major funds for capital improvements, often through bond issues.

Meanwhile, there have been an ever-increasing number of sales tax exemptions by the legislature and the courts that have cut deeply into the projected growth of sales tax revenues. And now, in the current economic crisis, sales tax revenues have already fallen seven percent, resulting in a $3 million shortfall for parks and requiring a 15 percent reduction across the board in all park units.

Projections for the next fiscal year are even more dire, with a $7-10 million shortfall projected. More than twenty permanent positions have been eliminated (on top of others cut in recent years), travel curtailed, even more maintenance deferred, and it is likely that more positions will be eliminated, visitor centers will be closed several days a week and some campground loops and group camps closed. The park system has benefited from superb management adept at wresting every possible efficiency in recent years, or the consequences of prolonged constraint and the current crisis would be even more obvious to our 16 million park visitors a year.

Stopping the Decline: Ten Percent for State Parks


If and when the economy improves, sales tax revenues will pick up, but park operations will continue to be constrained and the amount available for even the most basic maintenance and rehabilitation will continually decline, with ever increasing backlogs. That is why it is so critical that parks be included in any new capital improvement bond issue or state appropriation of federal stabilization or other stimulus funds.

As the successor to the third state building fund, which represented the greatest infusion of capital into the park system since the New Deal during the Great Depression of the 1930s, HJR 32's fifth state building fund is a logical vehicle for parks; there is logic also in the link with public educational institutions, since parks and historic sites are major public venues for non-formal education.

If this joint resolution, which would have to be approved by a vote of the people, is passed by both houses, the enormous reservoir of citizen support for the park system statewide will help to secure its passage by the Missouri electorate. If HJR 32 does not pass the legislature this year, a similar bond issue will likely be proposed again in order to take advantage of the revenue stream from retiring the previous bonds, the current favorable interest rate for bond sales, and federal stimulus funds available to pay one-third of the interest payments for the life of the bonds.

The other option for funding the backlog of park system infrastructure rehabilitation and other capital improvements is an appropriation from federal stimulus or stabilization funds available to Missouri. There is no specific provision for parks in the federal stimulus bill, which is largely intended to support transportation and technology investments, so the most likely source would be the $2.1-2.3 billion in stabilization funds, about which there is considerable debate and contention in the state legislature.

Appropriation bills must be passed a week before the May 15 adjournment of the General Assembly, so it is critical to contact your representative and senator right away to ask for their support in amending HJR 32 to include state parks and including state parks in any capital improvements bill that will utilize federal stimulus/stabilization funds. Support ten percent for state parks.

How to Take Action


Please CALL your state representative and senator right away (the earlier the better). If you don't have your rep's name or number, simply call 573-751-2000, give the operator your zip code and asked to be transferred to your representative's office. If your rep is not available, leave a message. Or simply use our take action website with an easy-to-send email letter (it is always best to personalize it).

 

3/19/09 40% Rate Increase? No Way. No CWIP!


40% hike in electric rates for more dirty energy? No Way, No CWIP!


The Missouri Senate Commerce, Consumer Protection, Energy and the Environment Committee is considering a monumental change in electric utility regulation (CWIP) that will allow utilities to pass on the entire risk and cost to ratepayers of large and expensive coal and nuclear energy projects.

Senate Bill 228 is a massive anti-consumer corporate giveaway that will hike electric rates 40% to pay for these dirty and expensive projects before they provide one watt of energy to consumers. And they have the audacity to call it the "The Clean and Renewable Energy Construction Act".

Click here to send a message to the Senate Commerce, Consumer Protection, Energy and the Environment Committee members asking them to oppose CWIP.

Also, please forward this email to friends and family and ask them to take action to tell legislators that we want a clean, renewable energy future, not more of the same tired energy policy and huge corporate giveaways. Missouri will be better served with investments in low-cost energy efficiency and clean, renewable energy that will transform Missouri's economy while creating good jobs NOW in every Missouri community.

Thanks for your continued help fighting this especially bad legislation.

 

3/11/09 Radioactive Waste to Remain in Floodplain


EPA Prepares to Cover Up Nuclear Waste in Bridgeton, MO


Any day now, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency may start directing the clearance of ground-cover and small trees off the tops of two areas containing some of the most radioactive wastes in the United States. The EPA will then estimate how many truckloads of rocks, construction rubble, and clay will be needed to create a "cover" (but no bottom or sides) for an illegal, non-licensed waste dump at West Lake Landfill in Bridgeton in the floodplain of the flood-prone Missouri River. Mallinckrodt Chemical Works generated these wastes during the production of nuclear weapons in the 1940's and '50's.

All the other sites where Mallinckrodt generated or dumped weapons wastes in St. Louis City and County have been or are being excavated and shipped to a licensed disposal site in Utah or Idaho by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The EPA - Region 7, however, as the federal agency responsible for West Lake, issued a Record of Decision in May 2008 dictating that the wastes in Bridgeton will be left where they are. The cities of Florissant, Bridgeton and Hazelwood have all passed resolutions echoing the Missouri Coalition for the Environment in support of the removal of the West Lake waste to a licensed disposal site, away from water and away from people, and in opposition to the EPA's plan.

Please fax your Missouri Senators and urge them to oppose the EPA's Record of Decision to leave radioactive waste in the Westlake Landfill.

"The Army Corps of Engineers has already calculated the risk and made the decision to clean up the same wastes in other areas of St. Louis City and County," says Kathleen Logan Smith, Executive Director of the Missouri Coalition for the Environment. "This is the agency that has historically dealt with nuclear weapons waste - they should be required to clean up the West Lake site."

West Lake is only 8 1/2 river miles upstream from Missouri American Water Company's drinking water intake structure in Florissant, used for everyone who lives or works north of I-70 in North St. Louis County. West Lake is also upstream from the City of St. Louis's Chain of Rocks drinking water intake.

If vegetation were to be cut and killed at West Lake, radioactive radon gas generated by the buried wastes can escape more readily into the air we breathe through funnels created where the roots die and disintegrate. A person can inhale this radon gas (from Uranium-238) into the lungs where it converts into radioactive lead-210 (half-life of 22 years) which continues releasing radioactive alpha particles for some 220 years. These radioactive particles will increase the person's risk of damage to tissues, cells, DNA and other vital molecules, potentially causing programmed cell death (apoptosis), genetic mutations, cancers, leukemias, birth defects, and reproductive immune, cardiovascular and endocrine system disorders.

 

2/13/09 Callaway II Scoping Hearing and CWIP Hearings


Feds to Host Meeting on MO Nuke #2 - February 18th


The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will host two public meetings as they prepare to conduct an Environmental Impact Statement on the second nuclear reactor AmerenUE is seeking to construct in mid-Missouri, known as Callaway Unit II. The meetings will be held at

Champ Auditorium in Westminster College
501 Westminster Ave.
Fulton, Missouri 65251
Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Open house begins at noon with a public meeting covening at 1 p.m. A second meeting will open at 5 p.m. and convene at 6 p.m.
You can join the St. Louis carpool if you would like.

Anyone wishing to speak may do so at that time, or submit comments in writing by March 24. Written comments must reference the Federal Register dated January 23, 2009 pages 4257-4258 and can be submitted to:

Chief, Rulemaking, Directives, and Editing Branch
Division of Administrative Services
Office Of Administration, Mailstop TWB-05-B01M
U.S. Regulatory Commission
Washington, D.C. 20555-0001
or by Email to the NRC at Callaway.COLEIS@nrc.gov

AmerenUE's application for Callaway II is available on line here: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/col/callaway.html

AmerenUE has submitted a license application to construct a 1600 megawatt nuclear fission reactor at its Callaway site on the Missouri River. The proposed reactor is known as the "Evolutionary Power Reactor" or the "European Pressurized Reactor", aka EPR and is marketed by the French government nuclear utility, Areva.

The plant's construction cost has been estimated from $6 billion -$12 billion. The costs of decommissioning the world's largest reactor was estimated by the State of Missouri to be $19 billion - $41 billion. The EPR design is untested and unproven because no EPR unit is yet up and running. France and Finland each have one EPR under construction. Both have run into delays because of defects in construction. The Finnish reactor is at least 50% over budget. EPR reactors also generate more plutonium - the coveted ingredient for nuclear weapons, raising concerns about nuclear proliferation and terrorist threats.

More Nuke = More Hazard

Because this reactor design has a higher fuel burn-up rate, it increases the intensity of the fuel's ionizing radiation. The implications of this on worker safety, waste storage, and decommissioning are not yet fully characterized though the Finnish environmental impact statement offers some discussion. (See here.) Hotter waste will require more space, more buffers, more protections - and more money. We don't have other options at Callaway. With the South Carolina low-level radioactive waste storage site now closed to Missouri waste, the "low-level" waste will be stored on site at Callaway, along with the spent fuel rods.

Hope y'all can come Wednesday.

Join us in Jefferson City for a Clean, Green Missouri on February 17


Conservation Lobby Day is Tuesday, February 17th. If you have not registered to join us for this spectacular exercise in democracy, please do it now at our website: www.moenviron.org

Energy will be a top agenda item, along with sustainable agriculture.

BONUS! CWIP Hearings

For those of you that missed the 3.5 hour hearing on Senate Bill 228 last week - the "construction work in progress" or CWIP bill that will hike our electric rates while promoting coal and nuclear energy -- you will have another chance. The House committee will be holding its hearing on HB 554 at noon Tuesday in House Hearing Room 1 (rescheduled after last week's cancellation), and the Senate committee will question the Public Service Commission on SB 228 and CWIP at 3 pm on Tuesday, in the Senate Lounge.

These bills would overturn the no construction work in progress (No-CWIP) law that has protected Missouri consumers from unfair electric surcharges for more than three decades. For more details see last week's E-Alert.

For other actions you can take, visit www.NoCWIP.org and click on the Take Action link on the left. There you can:
Bottom line: we have cleaner, greener, more democratic solutions and we should build them.

Join the No-CWIP fight today!

 

2/6/09 Lawmakers Host CWIP Hearing Tuesday


CWIP Bill Hearing Set; Dirty Secrets is Back


Senate Bill 228, the bill that will hike our electric rates while promoting coal and nuclear energy, will be heard at 3 pm on Tuesday, February 10 in the Senate Lounge. A hearing for a similar House version of the CWIP bill (HB 554) will be at noon on Tuesday in House Hearing Room 1.

These bills would overturn the no construction work in progress (No-CWIP) law that has protected Missouri consumers from unfair electric surcharges for more than three decades. CWIP is patently unfair because it allows a monopoly utility like St. Louis-based AmerenUE to transfer risk from investors to consumers. AmerenUE wants to shift that risk, because Wall Street investors will not invest in its plan to construct a second nuclear reactor in Callaway County.

Furthermore, AmerenUE is being coy about how much our rates would go up should this legislation be passed and the Public Service Commission has not required AmerenUE to perform a rate impact study on the impact of Callaway 2.

The Office of Public Counsel reports the CWIP charges resulting from Callaway 2 will increase your electric bills between 30%-50%.

In 1976, we voted to ban utilities from passing CWIP charges along to ratepayers by a 2 to 1 majority. We must make sure that this new legislation is not allowed to undo the expressed will of the voters.

Furthermore, nuclear power is less of a solution per dollar in the climate crisis. We should instead be investing in real solutions. Renewables and energy efficiency are faster, cheaper, and cleaner options. Unfortunately, Missouri ranks 45th in energy efficiency policy.

For those of you who won this in 1976, thank you. Here we go again. For all of us who have enjoyed fair electric rates ever since and want Missouri to move to clean, renewable energy, we'll need to work together to stop CWIP yet again.

What You Can Do for a Clean Energy Future


We encourage you to attend this hearing in Jefferson City on the CWIP bill and show your support for preserving this important consumer protection law. If you plan to attend, please reply to this email and let us know to expect you.

For other actions you can take, visit www.NoCWIP.org and click on the Take Action link on the left. There you can:
  • Write your state legislators
  • Write a letter to the editor of your local paper and make your opinion heard in your community.
  • Sign a No CWIP petition which will be presented to Missouri lawmakers.
  • Spread the word and let others know about this important issue and what they can do to help.
Join the No-CWIP fight today!

Dirty Secrets Returns


Representative Walt Bivins' perennial "Dirty Secrets" bill, HB 109 is back and is set for a hearing also on Tuesday at 8 a.m. in Hearing Room 1. This bill, the "environmental audit" bill, would allow companies to self-report environmental problems and escape any penalties and documentation. The bill is entirely unnecessary and could dangerously weaken our environmental laws. Our Missouri Dept. of Natural Resources does not penalize operations that identify and fix problems. This bill is not needed to get good operations to keep being good, or to get bad operations to improve.

 

1/28/09 Tell Missouri to Go Green - Attend Conservation Lobby Day


Attend Lobby Day and tell Legislators to Go Green


Conservation Lobby Day
Missouri State Capitol
Tuesday, February 17, 9:30-3:30

We need your help to get better environmental laws enacted in Missouri. Join us at Conservation Lobby Day in Jefferson City on Tuesday, February 17. Lobby Day is sponsored by Missouri Coalition for the Environment, Missouri Votes Conservation, and Sierra Club. Register today.

This annual event brings together concerned citizens from around the state to talk with state legislators about environmental issues facing Missouri. You don't have to know a lot about the legislative process, or even about upcoming bills. You just have to care about a clean, healthy environment for Missouri.

Conservation Lobby Day has grown in recent years. It draws citizens who represent a diversity of conservation interests, from environmentalists, scientists, students and business owners to hunters, anglers and farmers. Help us show Missouri lawmakers that their constituents want Missouri to Go Green. Register to Attend Lobby Day.

Learn About Ameren's Efforts to Overturn Law and Raise your Rates


A Conversation with Utility Financial Expert, Peter Bradford
February 2-4, 2009

Few people know more about the complex machinations of utility financing than Peter Bradford, former Chair of the New York State Public Service Commission, as well as former Chair of the Maine State Public Utility Commission, and former member of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Join Peter Bradford and a panel of fair electric rate advocates February 2-4 in St. Louis, Columbia, and Kansas City. Learn more about Ameren's effort to overturn the ban on CWIP and what this means for your utility rates.
  • St. Louis - Monday, February 2 at 7 p.m.
    Ethical Society of St. Louis
    9001 Clayton Road., St. Louis, MO 63117
  • Columbia - Tuesday, February 3: 6:45 p.m. Reception, 7:15 Panel
    Commission Chambers of the Boone County Government Center
    801 E. Walnut, Columbia, MO 65201
  • Kansas City - Wednesday, February 3 at 12:30 p.m.
    All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church
    4501 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO

Bill Filed -- Ameren Asks Legislators for Your Blank Check


On Jan. 23, a bill was introduced in the Missouri legislature that, if passed, would guarantee higher electric bills for Missouri consumers.

Sponsored by southwest Missouri Republican Delbert Scott, Senate Bill 228 would overturn a 1976 voter-enacted law that keeps utilities from charging customers for a power plant that isn't yet built, and may never operate.

The bill modifies the no construction work in progress (No-CWIP) law that has protected Missouri consumers from unfair electric surcharges for more than three decades. Critics of the bill argue that CWIP is patently unfair because it allows an investor-owned utility like AmerenUE to transfers risk from investors to consumers.

Without overturning the voter-enacted law and reinstating CWIP, AmerenUE Chief Executive Thomas Voss told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that they would not build the new nuclear reactor at Callaway 2, "We just couldn't do it. The risk would be too great. We don't think people would lend us the money. We don't think our board of directors would approve it. And we don't think our stockholders would think it's prudent."

"If an investment in Callaway 2 is not prudent for their stockholders, it is certainly imprudent for ratepayers who do not receive a return on investment," said Sister Barbara Jennings of Midwest Coalition for Responsible Investments.

"This bill will allow utilities to charge for electricity you are not currently getting, may never get, don't necessarily need, and for which AmerenUE cannot tell you the ultimate cost," AARP attorney John Coffman said. "It's simply incredible that the electric monopolies are unnecessarily raising rates during a recession when people are already struggling to pay their bills."

"Senate Bill 228 is a utility wish list that would not only wipe away Missouri's most pro-consumer utility law, it makes numerous anti-consumer changes to the ratemaking process," Coffman added.

"If your grocery store raised prices because they wanted to build a new store, you can just shop elsewhere," said Jennings. "But where else can Ameren customers buy power? Plus, I doubt a shopper would be willing to pay for a bag of groceries today that they may or may not receive in a decade."

"It is especially insulting to Missourians that they slapped a 'clean energy' label on a bill that really is an unfair rate scheme," said Kat Logan Smith of the Missouri Coalition for the Environment. "Instead of increasing rates by reinstating CWIP, utilities should instead be investing in efficiency, conservation, biomass, wind, and solar projects - all feasible without requiring ratepayers to pay unfair CWIP rates."

Ameren has recently come under scrutiny for its lack of responsiveness during major power outages in 2007 and the collapse of the upper Taum Sauk reservoir in 2005. In both cases the public confidence in the giant utility was shaken. Since these incidents, Ameren has steeply increased its presence in Jefferson City. They now have 33 registered lobbyists in Jefferson City and gave over $240,000 to Missouri politicians in campaign contributions in 2008.

Missourians for Fair Electric Rates is a broad-based collection of organizations including AARP, Midwest Coalition for Responsible Investments, Missouri Association for Social Welfare, Missouri Sierra Club, and other groups who are devoted to maintaining fair electric rates in Missouri by opposing CWIP surcharges. Visit NoCWIP.org for more information and to get involved.

 

1/19/09 CWIP: Unfair Rate Hikes for Missouri Consumers



In our last Alert newsletter, we briefed you on the efforts of St. Louis-based electric utility AmerenUE to lobby our Missouri Legislators to repeal the current ban on charging ratepayers for Construction Work in Progress (CWIP). CWIP makes electric ratepayers provide a power company with a blank check for building a power plant. The Coalition for the Environment along with a coalition of groups that include the AARP, Missouri Office of Public Counsel, and Missouri Association for Social Welfare are working to preserve the law -- passed by a 2-to-1 majority of Missouri voters in 1976 -- that protects fair electric rates by banning CWIP charges.

Protect Your Pocketbook: Ask a Rate Expert

A Conversation with Utility Financial Expert Peter Bradford
February 2-4, 2009

Few people know more about the complex machinations of utility financing than Peter Bradford, former Chair of the New York State Public Service Commission, as well as former Chair of the Maine State Public Utility Commission, and former member of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Join Peter Bradford and a panel of fair electric rate advocates on the CWIP Truth Tour, February 2-4 in St. Louis, Columbia, and Kansas City. Learn more about the CWIP issue and how to protect your pocketbook.
  • Monday, February 2, - 7 p.m. Ethical Society, 9001 Clayton Road., St. Louis, Missouri 63117
  • Tuesday, February 3 - 6:45 p.m. Commission Chambers of the Boone County Government Center, 801 E. Walnut, Columbia, Missouri, 65201

"Because nuclear power is not only expensive but is increasing in cost at a dramatic rate..." - Peter Bradford

Ameren Wants a Blank Check - Yours


In 1976, Missouri voters rightly decided that they would only pay utilities for electricity they are using, or technically, only begin to pay for the costs of building a power plant when it became "fully operational and used for service." It is not fair for ratepayers to pay now for a plant that may never come on-line, that may take at least ten years to construct, and for which we are not paid dividends.

Ameren is pressuring the Missouri General Assembly to overturn the voter-enacted law banning CWIP so it can access our pocketbooks for funds to build a second nuclear reactor at Callaway, with an estimated cost of at least $9 billion. Because Wall Street investors refuse to take on the risk by providing the financial capital for construction of new nuclear plants (with the past and current record of cost overruns, mistakes, and costly delays), Ameren hopes to persuade our elected officials to make the ratepayers pay instead.

Charging ratepayers for Construction Work in Progress removes the natural market incentives and puts the liability onto rate payers, offering nothing in return. When investors put up the cash for construction, they get a return on their investment in exchange for taking on the risk. They also exercise some oversight and thus motivate more careful attention to cost overruns caused by mistakes, delays, strikes, material and labor shortages, and more.

Ameren is looking to its ratepayers because private investors are not willing to invest into nuclear due to its risk and expense. The last order for a nuclear power plant in the United States that was not subsequently canceled was placed in October 1973. (Callaway was ordered in July 1973, one of the last four U.S. plants ordered that was not canceled.)

When Callaway I, the existing nuclear reactor, was completed and audited by the Missouri Public Service Commission (PSC), hundreds of millions of dollars were "disallowed" by the PSC as imprudent cost overruns. If AmerenUE knows the money to finance Callaway II is guaranteed upfront by ratepayers then the pressure to explore "least cost" options and manage efficiently is weakened.

Consumers already pay AmerenUE a high level of profit. Its electric monopoly is allowed to charge rates that include a rate of return (with a return on equity higher than 10%). This profit already compensates for the risks of planning and financing the utility's operations. If, in fact, Ameren prefers to have ratepayers bear its big risks, then AmerenUE's generous rate of return should be reduced or eliminated.

Ameren has been energetically courting our Missouri Legislators for more than a year to repeal the 1976 law. Help protect this important consumer protection law by calling your state representative, your state senator, (look them up here), the chair of the House Committee on Energy and Environment, and the chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Energy, and the Environment. Urge them to protect fair electric rates, respect Missouri voters, and keep the ban on CWIP. Visit NoCWIP.org for more information on CWIP and how to get involved.


For E-Alerts before 2009, click here
 
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