coal ash plan raises fears in Missouri Community.docVIP

Coal consumption is increasing in many parts of the world, driven by skyrocketing energy demands in rapidly developing countries like China. But with coal comes pollution: from climate-changing carbon dioxide to coal ash, the powdery toxic waste left over from burning coal to produce electricity. In the United States, coal-fired power plants produce more than 130 million tons of coal waste each year. The debate over how to dispose of it is playing out in the small town of Labadie, Missouri where the controversy is pitting local residents against the Midwestern utility company, Ameren.It all started with the Labadie ladies book club back in the summer of 2009.Everybody was just gathering, and somebody kind of off-handedly said, Oh, did you all hear that so-and-so just sold his bottom ground, says long-time area resident Kay Genovese. And nobody had heard about that, and she said, Yeah, I heard he sold it to Ameren. St. Louis Public Radio The small town of Labadie, Missouri, is about 55 kilometers west of St. Louis. Bottom ground is land in the floodplain of the Missouri River. Genovese says at the book club the next month, they found out another farmer had sold his land.And we were like, Oh, to Ameren again? Three months in a row, we kept hearing about these different farmers selling their ground to Ameren.The book club ladies started asking questions. They found out that the utility company Ameren was planning to build a 160 hectare [400 acre] coal ash landfill in the floodplain, next door to its massive power plant in Labadie.Shift supervisor Jim Dean says, with its four huge turbines, Labadie can generate enough power to supply electricity to almost half a million homes. To do it, the place burns coal by the train load.Each train has about 130 cars in it. Each car holds 100 tons of coal. And well burn one car, 100 tons of coal, in about four minutes with all four units at full load, Dean says.At two coal trains a day, that works out to about 10 mill