Environmental Issues > Energy Main Page > All Energy Documents

Coal Plants in Missouri

Choose another state: Arizona Arkansas Colorado Florida Georgia Illinois Iowa Kentucky Louisiana Michigan Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Mexico North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Pennsylvania South Carolina South Dakota Texas Utah Virginia West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

The four new conventional coal plants proposed to be built in Missouri are projected by NRDC to generate 515,709 tons of contaminated coal waste, including 546 tons of toxic metals. Missouri ranks 9th in waste production expected from new conventional coal plants, and 10th in toxic metals from those plants.

Missouri ranks 18th in the country for contaminated coal waste, with 2,332,150 tons of waste reported to the U.S. Energy Information Administration in 2005. The state also ranks 14th in toxic metals contaminating its coal waste, with 2,469 tons of toxic metals, based on NRDC estimates.

Back to the main overview »

Statistics for New and Proposed Plants in Missouri

Plant	County	Estimated tons of coal waste	Estimated tons of toxic metals
Iatan 2	Platte	235,395	249
Norborne *	Carroll	193,080	205
Springfield	Greene	76,157	81
UM-Columbia	Boone	11,077	12

Statistics for Existing Plants in Missouri

Plant	Owner (primary)	County	Tons of waste	Percent of waste disposed	Tons of toxic metals
Labadie	AmerenUE	Franklin	559,000	52.6%	573
Rush Island	AmerenUE	Jefferson	270,000	54.1%	224
Thomas Hill	Associated Electric Coop Inc	Randolph	198,800	27.2%	225
New Madrid	Associated Electric Coop Inc	New Madrid	192,400	56.8%	236
Sioux	AmerenUE	St Charles	188,000	54.3%	257
Meramec	AmerenUE	St Louis	184,000	60.3%	209
Hawthorn	Kansas City Power & Light Co	Jackson	138,200	87.9%	127
Iatan	Kansas City Power & Light Co	Platte	134,500	12.2%	131
Montrose	Kansas City Power & Light Co	Henry	117,600	53.4%	97
Sibley (UTIL)	Aquila Networks-Missouri	Jackson	101,200	50.9%	116
Asbury	Empire District Electric Co	Jasper	78,200	68.4%	46
James River Power Station (SPCIUT)	Springfield City of	Greene	50,900	66.4%	56
Southwest Power Station (Southwest II)	Springfield City of	Greene	45,000	88.7%	44
Blue Valley	Independence City of	Jackson	29,750	100.0%	31
Lake Road (UTIL)	Aquila Networks-Missouri	Buchanan	29,600	54.7%	32
Sikeston Power Station	Sikeston City of	Scott	15,000	75.3%	63

Percent of waste disposed indicates the proportion of contaminated coal waste disposed of in landfills, ponds, or on- or off-site disposal facilities. For detailed information on how each plant reported its waste disposal in 2005, see the detailed data Excel spreadsheet.

Sources: Permit applications for new plants; Energy Information Administration data; NRDC estimates. The most recent data available from the EIA is from 2005 and it is possible that operational changes at particular plants will have changed the yearly waste volumes and disposal methods. Click here for detailed glossary of terms and our methodology.

* Plant has been successfully challenged in the courts or in regulatory proceedings, or has experienced other regulatory or financial setbacks that have put the project on hold. However, a plant should not be considered truly cancelled until all pending regulatory approvals have been withdrawn and the project has been categorically abandoned, and a plant will remain on the proposed list until NRDC can confirm that it has been cancelled in this manner.

last revised 3/12/2009