With a population of just over 2,000 residents, Labadie, Mo. is a small, rural town located about 35 miles west of St. Louis­—but decisions taking place in the community could have a big impact for people living throughout the St. Louis area.

Ameren Missouri has spent years pursuing plans to construct a coal ash landfill on the floodplain of the Missouri River. And despite continued efforts by a non-profit group with numerous student members to fight the plans, Ameren’s project is moving forward.

At the end of October, Franklin County commissioners passed an amendment allowing Ameren to advance its plans to construct the facility.

Members of the anti-construction Labadie Environmental Organization (LEO) said that despite the setback, they are continuing to fight the construction, which they say could bring significant environmental and economic risks to their community.

“It’s just a high risk area, building a coal ash landfill on a floodplain,” junior Zach Blustein, one of the students helping LEO through the School of Law’s Environmental Clinic, said. “There’s the potential for groundwater contamination. Also, the site chosen is actually under standing water during certain points in the year.”

The Franklin Country Presiding Commissioner, John Griesheimer, declined to comment on the decision to pass the amendment.

It was the first of many permits that the company needs to acquire in order to build the landfill. It still needs construction, operating and floodplain permits from the state, as well as a wetlands permit from the Army Corps of Engineers.

The clinic has been working with LEO since 2009 to provide legal support and representation for the group.

“We’ll take scientific jargon and put it into simpler terms so that others can understand,” Blustein said. “We can also help explain legal matters.”

Coal ash contains harmful chemicals like arsenic and mercury that have been linked to cancer and other serious health problems. When not stored properly, these chemicals can leach into groundwater and drinking water sources, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Blustein also said that because the facility is located above a confluence, much of the drinking water in St. Louis could be affected if the site became flooded.

Ameren has said it needs a new ash pond because the power plant’s old landfills are almost full. The company has assured the public that the facility will meet federal standards and that the material will be protected by multiple liners and a berm, or a raised shelf, three feet higher than the level that floodwater reached in 1993. They also have stated that the coal ash will be stored dry, a safer method than storing it wet.

Many LEO members doubt Ameren’s claims, pointing out flaws with the company’s current Labadie waste facilities. These include two leaks in the ash ponds that began seeping in 1992, one of which has recently been filled. Two more leaks were discovered by the Department of Natural Resources in September.

No tests have been carried out in the area to detect contamination of groundwater or drinking water by the state or by Ameren, a reflection of Missouri’s loose testing restrictions—some of the lowest in the country according in an Earthjustice study published in August.

LEO has gained over 2,000 signatures for its petition against the facility and filled auditoriums with over 500 people at public hearings to discuss Ameren’s proposal.

“In the course of two years, I think we’ve changed a lot of minds,” said Patricia Schuba, president of the organization. “We’ve opened up the discussion about toxins in the environment and mobilized the community.”

Schuba said that there are various reasons that people oppose the landfill, but two major concerns are health and economic risks.

“The heavy metals and carcinogens in the drinking water concern us, because this is right over the groundwater for the region, and also the local impact of reduced property values and reduced development in the area,” she said.

The clinic works with several other grassroots organizations, almost all of them non-profits.

“The clinic’s been an amazing resource for a small, grassroots, non-profit group fighting a very large issue that impacts us all,” Schuba said.

Despite the passing of the land amendment allowing Ameren to advance its plans to construct the facility, the LEO plans to continue fighting.

“We’re exhausting every possibility. There are many more steps and layers, and we’ll be there, present and fighting the decision,” Schuba said.

Ameren hopes to begin construction of the facility in 2012 and have it operating by the fall of 2013 or 2014.