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June 7, 2004,   Volume 10, Issue 5         
2004 Session Spells Bad Times For Missouri’s Environment

The 2004 session was one of the most disappointing in recent memory for Missouri’s environment. The Republican-controlled House and Senate forced through several rollbacks on environmental protection. During the final days and hours Missouri legislators passed HB 978, the Small Business Regulatory Board bill and HB 980, the Cost Risk Benefit Analysis Bill. The intent and purpose of both of these bills is to slow or prevent the passage of new environmental rules by creating more hoops for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, MDNR, to jump through. With the help of Senator Ken Jacob, we were able to significantly scale back the impact of this legislation. We fought diligently to remove some of the worst sections from these bills and add language that drastically weakened their authority. The anti-environmental Republicans will declare these bills a victory; but thanks to Senator Jacob’s determination and excellent legal staff, their victory is, in practical terms, a hollow one.

The most difficult moment in the session was when HCS/HB 1177, a terrible CAFO (confined animal feeding operation) bill, passed. This bill has the potential to cause devastating long-term environmental and health impacts on Missouri’s future. We were promised by the Republican leadership that the Senate version of the bill would go to conference committee if the language stating “An agricultural spill, contained on an individuals property, is not considered a violation” gave the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, any concern. EPA confirmed that this would jeopardize MDNR’s ability to uphold the Clean Water Act. After being presented the confirmation letter from EPA, the Republicans went back on their word and passed the bill as is. We are calling on Governor Holden to veto HCS/HB 1177! More info.

Unreported sand and gravel mining almost became a reality. Once again Senator Sarah Steelman used important legislation as her hostage bill for sand and gravel mining. Steelman introduced a floor substitute bill which contained three funding programs for MDNR: the Hazardous Waste Program, a change in funding for the Solid Waste program and the funding to reinstate the Waste Tire Fee bill. The bill also allowed for landowners and political subdivisions to contract and sell up to 2,000 tons of gravel without any permitting or reporting process. For good measure they also added language giving all authority to rule on DNR permit appeals to the Administrative Hearing Commission, thus removing this authority from the current citizens commissions.

Faced with losing three important DNR programs, we battled out a compromise. Sierra Club worked with all concerned parties to amend the language to allow the current commissions to retain the final authority on appeals. The bill was further amended to require political subdivisions to report the location of their gravel mining to DNR and to sign an agreement to follow the established excavation guidelines. After all this compromise, the bill ended up dying in the House. This bill was killed by a disagreement between Senator Klindt and Representative Guest over the distribution of waste tire fee money that was to go to area businesses to create markets for tire recycling. Meanwhile we worked to get a similar bill, SB 1040, passed clean to renew the hazardous waste fee and change the distribution of the solid waste fee monies. For a second year in a row, we have lost the waste tire fee program.

As grim as this session was, I can state unequivocally that it would have been much worse if Sierra Club had not been there as the only constant opposition to bad legislation. Thanks to your efforts the Dirty Secrets Bill, HB 933 and SB 989, died quiet deaths.

Unfortunately we are faced with a much more frightening prospect next year, as we will lose many friends to term limits. Unless we change the balance of power in state Government, Missouri’s environmental laws are in serious trouble.

The good news is we can turn things around this next election; it will take hard work and involvement from all of our membership. When Sierra Club members join together to activate their grassroots support we have accomplished amazing things. We are launching a new program called “Building Environmental Communities.” I would love the opportunity to visit with members and friends and talk about how we take back our nation and state. Please call or write for more information.

1. The definition of "agriculture stormwater" is changed so that improper land application of hog manure could result in runoff reaching waters of the state.
2. The time for reporting illegal discharges has been extended from "immediately" to "within 24 hours,” a lot of pollution can occur in a twenty-four hour period.
3. The Bill seeks to take away local control from county governments who have fought to protect their communities by enacting local health ordinances to limit the number of these huge factory farms. The bill creates more loopholes for counties to jump through, forcing a cost risk benefit to be performed by Soil and Water boards. These boards do not have the expertise or resources to conduct a fair assessment.
4. The bill also includes language that could prohibit MDNR from initiating enforcement action with respect to otherwise unlawful discharges. The Bill includes language that says a spill is not a violation if it is contained on the owner’s property. This language is in violation of the spirit if not the actual language of the Federal Clean Water Act.