Photo Courtesy of Missouri Coalition for the Environment This week we saw a positive development from the Missouri and federal governments when they jointly filed an enforcement action against the St. Louis Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD). The Missouri Coalition for the Environment has long felt that a schedule of remedies should be imposed on MSD to keep it on track as it cleans up the sewers in St. Louis.

As Missourians splash in the state's abundant waters to relieve the sweltering heat of summer, few realize that our tax money is being spent to keep streams polluted, not to keep them clean and safe.

Newly reconstructed CSO on the Mississippi River in St. LouisThe Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) is on a multi-year spending spree to conduct studies aimed at exempting streams from clean water protections. The MDNR has spent nearly $300,000 this year on studies used to exempt streams from important clean water protections—and it's poised to spend still more this summer and fall. This is the third year MDNR has either contracted for the studies that downgrade stream protections—called Use Attainability Analyses (UAAs)--or done them using state employees, at an overall undisclosed cost.

We just got some good news from one of Rep. Russ Carnahan's Environment Legislative Aide. The Missouri Coalition for the Environment applauds Rep. Carnahan for her support of this important bill. Here's the message from the staffer: