LABADIE ANOTHER KANAWHA?

Because of the recent chemical spill in West Virginia and because my
blog is sent to former colleagues, friends,  family and environmental
activists here and across the country, I share this story with you.

A few years ago I facilitated a course on the environment for the
Lifelong Learning Institute (LLI) of Washington University in St. Louis.
LLI offers classes for people 55 years old and older.

Halfway through the semester some of the people told me of their effort
to stop a proposed landfill very near the Missouri River.  The landfill
was proposed by Ameren, Missouri's  Electric company to expand the
boundaries of the company's Labadie plant.

Labadie is a sparsely populated hamlet about 40 miles West of St. Louis
by a creek that runs off into the Missouri River. It has a general store
which serves as grocery, bakery, butcher shop, automotive center and
coffee shop.  One of the clerks said she was born and raised in Labadie.

I asked if she knew anything about Ameren's plan to build a landfill
nearby.  She told me she did.  She was "worried about making a landfill
out of bottom land."  She knew some people were trying to stop the
landfill.  I bought coffee and a donut and she directed me to the house
I wanted.

I came into a large, well appointed living room with a
picture window and a view of  a small creek running alongside
three Labadie smoke stacks.  Fifteen people were introduced
as members of the Labadie Environmental Organization (LEO).

Many of the people were born and raised in  Labadie while others
had moved to the area as adults.  All were knowledgeable about the
environmental value of the land and the importance of the little creek
that runs off into the Missouri River where Labadie wants to build its
landfill.

I thought about the people in my class and in Labadie and about Ameren
as I read about Kanawha County, West Virginia  where  hundreds of
thousands of  people are without water  because of a leak in a tank
which held toxic chemicals that seeped into the nearby Elk River.

The Company which owned the tanks is now under investigation and
many public questions still remain.

Was there an absence of governmental regulation?  Did people who
lived near the tanks question their proximity to the Elk River?  Were
community concerns looked into by elected officials?  Will the River
carry its toxic water into Charleston, West Virginia?

While here in Missouri,  The Labadie Environmental Organization
formed by a tireless leader and a small group of citizens have been
working since 2009 to stop Ameren Electric Company from
placing a landfill near a small creek that flows into the Missouri River.

So far they have gained some community support and are consulting with
environmental and legal authorities because they believe Ameren's
landfill could contaminate the small creek nearby. Will they succeed?
We don't know. 

What I do know is that because of this delay, a small band of citizens
in Labadie, Missouri are providing all of us with the time and
opportunity to question even corporate behemoths like Ameren and help
keep all of us from the fate of Kanawha County, West Virginia.