Dive Brief:

• The Missouri Supreme Court voted unanimously to order a new hearing regarding a coal ash landfill in Franklin County, MO.
• The court said arguments from environmental groups showed that the Franklin County meeting failed to meet the requirements for a public hearing. 
• The decision will prolong years of legal efforts to stop energy company Ameren Missouri from building the coal ash landfill in the Missouri River flood plain. 

Dive Insight:

The Labadie Environmental Organization challenged Franklin County zoning laws allowing Ameren to build the landfill, alleging that the laws were invalid because the Franklin County Commission did not conduct a proper public hearing. The group said commissioners permitted the public to only talk about the general law during a zoning hearing—not about specific projects. Opponents maintained they were prevented from speaking about the Ameren landfill during the public hearing. 

Franklin County officials said they followed public hearing procedures, and the rule passed. Residents then challenged them in court, and the Franklin County Circuit Court dismissed the claim that there wasn’t a valid public hearing. The decision handed down by the state Supreme Court found the claim to be valid, and determined that the lower court should have conducted a hearing to determine the truth of the claims.

The fate of the coal ash project is unknown. Ameren was granted a key construction permit from the Missouri DNR in January, and said it plans to move forward on the project despite the legal delays. The environmental groups said they plan to continue fighting the landfill in court.