MCE Sues EPA to Protect Missouri Lakes & Human Health

On December 3, 2019, Missouri Coalition for the Environment (MCE) sued the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for not protecting Missouri lakes for recreation and drinking water use, and therefore not protecting human health. The EPA approved Governor Parson’s weak “clean water” rule for nutrient pollution following a sharp rebuke of a similar plan just a few years prior. MCE argues that Missouri’s Department of Natural Resources, without justification, removed pollution impacts on human health in violation of the Clean Water Act.  

Missouri Governor Mike Parson and state lawmakers have a history of supporting industrial agricultural interests over the protection of Missouri’s water resources and public health. MCE refuses to be a spectator as clean water protections are gutted because we do not want Missouri to end up in a situation like Des Moines (Iowa) or Toledo (Ohio), where literally thousands of lives have been disrupted and millions spent trying to deliver clean drinking water to people due to excessive nutrient pollution. 

The need for measurable nutrient pollution standards is more than a decade in the making. What’s new is that Governor Parson and President Trump have decided to support standards that are not protective of human health. Be sure to look at our timeline below to get a sense of how long MCE has engaged on this issue. 

Learn more by reading the lawsuit and press release and check out the questions below to learn more about nutrient pollution and why MCE is suing, and scroll down for visuals on the basics of nutrient pollution and a timeline of events leading up to the lawsuit.

** UPDATE:  On April 15, 2020, the District Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on motions to intervene by the State of Missouri and several state water agencies from Missouri, California, Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia.

[ultimate-faqs include_category=’nutrients’ ]