St. Louis utility company pushes back against carbon rules

ST. LOUIS -- A St. Louis utility company is pushing back on the federal government's plan to cut carbon-dioxide emissions.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported although Ameren Missouri hasn't filed a court challenge, the utility asked the Environmental Protection Agency to prevent implementation of the regulations and propose new ones.

The company also urged Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster to join a lawsuit challenging the rules, which the Democrat did last year.

If its legal strategy against the Clean Power Plan falls short, Ameren also is working to develop a plan at the state level to cut Missouri's carbon emissions.

The Clean Power Plan will require about a 28 percent cut of carbon dioxide from Missouri power plants. Natural-gas plants and wind and solar farms will replace coal-powered plants.

"The emission reductions required are extremely significant," Ajay Arora, Ameren's vice president for environmental services and generation resource planning, said last week at a Jefferson City conference on the new rules.

He said the final version released last summer is stricter than the initial proposal, and the rules are "disproportionately hard on Missouri."

Ameren argues the company's existing plan can meet Clean Power targets five years later than the 2030 deadline set by the EPA. The utility said it will cost customers a lot more to speed up a transition to more natural-gas and wind generation.

The company has plans to close its Meramec coal plant in south St. Louis County by 2022 but wants to keep its Sioux plant in St. Charles County open until 2033.