FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: March 9, 2017
Contacts:
- Alicia Lloyd, Clean Water Policy Coordinator, Missouri Coalition for the Environment
(314) 727-0600 x112, alloyd@moenviron.org
- Bob Menees, Attorney, Great Rivers Environmental Law Center
(314) 231-4181, bobmenees@greatriverslaw.org
- Lia Comerford, Staff Attorney, Earthrise Law Center
(503) 768-6823, comerford@lclark.edu
Kansas City, MO: The Missouri Coalition for the Environment (“MCE”) and Cedar Fair, LP, and its subsidiary, Worlds of Fun, LLC., an amusement park in Kansas City, reached a court-approved settlement agreement that resolves a lawsuit filed by MCE in November 2015. In the lawsuit, MCE alleged that Worlds of Fun had repeatedly violated the Clean Water Act by discharging illegal levels of pollutants into the Missouri River and its tributary, Shoal Creek. The pollutants of concern in the facility’s wastewater and stormwater included chlorine, copper, oil and grease, and total suspended solids.
“We are pleased that Worlds of Fun will reduce its pollution to the Shoal Creek watershed and the Missouri River and that the various projects planned under the settlement will help improve water quality in the area,” said Alicia Lloyd, Clean Water Policy Coordinator for MCE.
The settlement agreement requires Worlds of Fun to develop and implement a Facility Compliance Plan to ensure the amusement park will meet the requirements of the Clean Water Act. The plan must be developed by a professional engineer and will include “green infrastructure” and an educational kiosk explaining how stormwater pollution threatens water resources and the benefits of restoring natural infrastructure to curb these negative impacts.
Worlds of Fun is also required to spend $100,000 on supplemental environmental projects in the Shoal Creek watershed. These funds will be shared between Stream Teams United and Bridging the Gap, Inc., both Missouri non-profit organizations that work on environmental projects and water quality monitoring in the Kansas City area and throughout Missouri. Stream Teams United will use its share of the funds to create a Shoal Creek Stream Team to monitor water quality and conduct river cleanups in the watershed. Bridging the Gap will use its share of the funds to implement on-the-ground restoration projects to improve water quality within the watershed. Worlds of Fun will also pay MCE’s litigation costs and attorneys fees in the lawsuit.
MCE is represented by Great Rivers Environmental Law Center and Earthrise Law Center.
The Missouri Coalition for the Environment, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) state-level conservation organization, is a force for clean air, clean water and clean energy in Missouri. Since 1969 it has educated and activated Missourians to protect the land we all love. Its web address is: www.moenvironment.org.
Great Rivers is a nonprofit public interest environmental law firm in St. Louis that provides free and reduced-fee legal services to those working to protect the environment and public health. Its web address is: www.greatriverslaw.org.
Earthrise Law Center is the environmental law clinic at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon.
###