Utilities Sector

Bridgeton Landfill Agreement: Will Officials Eliminate Horrible Odor, Protect Residents?

After months of controversy regarding the smelly Bridgeton landfill -- with heated debates about the cause of the awful stench and the potential health hazards -- the Missouri attorney general's office and the company behind the site have hammered out an agreement. Republic Services, parent compan ... More >>

Bridgeton Landfill: Foul Smell Getting a Lot Worse, Officials Offer Alternative Housing

The folks behind the smelly Bridgeton landfill are moving forward with a project that they say, in the long run, should make the site a lot less smelly. In the interim, however, it's going to get worse -- potentially a lot worse. Which is why Republic Services, parent company of Bridgeton Landfill ... More >>

AG Sues Stinky Bridgeton Landfill, Cites Underground Fire, Hazardous Waste Violations

Environmental activists in recent weeks have done their best to raise a stink about a landfill in Bridgeton, which everyone agrees smells really bad -- and critics think could pose serious health risks, in part because there is a fire underground and radioactive material nearby. Now, the company b ... More >>

Bridgeton Landfill: Officials Say the Bad Smells Could Pose Future Public Health Risk

Missouri officials have released new data on a Bridgeton landfill that environmental groups say is a major concern -- not just because it smells really terrible. The new information from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources tells a very different story about potential health concerns on site ... More >>

Veolia Water Contract: Media Blitz Marks Second Phase of Dispute

When the numbers began to roll in on the eve of March 5, it became clear that Mayor Francis Slay was on his way to his fourth, record-breaking term. With the hopes of his challenger, Aldermanic President Lewis Reed, went those of the members of Dump Veolia, who had effectively turned a pending city ... More >>

Bridgeton Landfill: "Dirty Bomb" Radioactive Hazards or Irresponsible Activist Speculation?

Residents of Bridgeton, Missouri should be worried about serious potential health hazards tied to an increasingly smelly landfill. So says a coalition of environmental activists who are spreading the word about a possible "dirty bomb" or chemical threat related to radioactivity on the site. Offici ... More >>

Missouri Lottery: Winning Dearborn Couple Spends $50,000 on Sewage Treatment Plant

What would you do if you won the lottery? Mark and Cindy Hill, by all accounts an "utterly delightful" couple that lives in Dearborn, have decided to do something not quite as sexy as the $293.7 million they won last year. Help fund a sewage treatment plant. And the couple's kind hearts -- and ... More >>

Bridgeton Landfill Official: We All "Want the Same Thing: To Dramatically Reduce the Odor"

In Bridgeton, Missouri, everyone wants the same thing -- a better smelling city. So says the latest announcement from the company behind the Bridgeton landfill, which has come under fire in recent months for making the area smell so bad, residents say it can be painful. Tim Trost, area president ... More >>

Veolia Water Contract: Lewis Reed's Office Pushes Total Re-Do of Contract Process

Challenges to a pending consulting contract between the City of St. Louis and a French multinational water service company called Veolia are still coming from all sides. Activists from the "Dump Veolia" coalition will descend on City Hall this afternoon for another show of opposition; at the same t ... More >>

Bridgeton Landfill: Really Awful Smell Not A Health Hazard, But Still Stinky, Officials Say

Last month, we reported on the really awful smell in Bridgeton, Missouri that was so bad, residents said the terrible stench had invaded their homes and was causing their eyes to burn. Soon after the media attention, the company behind the landfill said it was "very sorry" and that it would work to ... More >>

Hosed: A plan to overhaul the St. Louis Water Division leaves the Slay administration all wet

Veolia Water Contract May Face Public Hearing [UPDATE]

Update: Click through for a copy of the preliminary Veolia contract. Yesterday, the Estimates and Apportionment Committee met to do its usual business and was met by a rather unusual crowd. Over 50 members of the activist group Dump Veolia showed up with handwritten signs protesting a pending con ... More >>

"Dump Veolia" Mounts Social Media Campaign to Halt City Water Contract

A rising tide of dissent is building against a contract between the City of St. Louis and multinational water service company Veolia. Daily RFT broke news of the deal in December after insiders at the city water division leaked memos showing that Veolia, a Paris-based company, won a contract in a c ... More >>

Veolia Water Contract Sent Back to Committee Over Concerns About Company's Reputation

Seemingly overnight, the fortunes of a lucrative contract between the City of St. Louis and Veolia Water have been reversed. Earlier this month, Daily RFT broke the news that the city's Water Division recently completed the bidding process for a consulting contract aimed at cutting spending at the ... More >>

Watchdog Group Has Its Eye On Veolia, City's New Water Division Consultant

Earlier this week, we broke news that the St. Louis Water Division has chosen Veolia Water, a Paris-based company and the largest water services provider in the world, to guide cost-cutting at the utility. The final contract has not yet been awarded, but a longtime employee of the department provide ... More >>

French Firm, Veolia, Wins Consulting Contract with St. Louis Water Division

The St. Louis Water Division has inked a new, five-year consulting contract with a private utility service company called Veolia, and some department employees are less than thrilled with the news. The city has made no formal announcement and the contract is still in "negotiation" according to a ci ... More >>

Ameren Partners with Westinghouse to Build Innovative Small Nuclear Reactors

Ameren Missouri and Westinghouse Electric Company today announced a partnership in order to pursue Department of Energy funds for the development and construction of new types of small nuclear reactors. If Westinghouse wins the DOE investment funds, Missouri will seek from the Nuclear Regulatory Com ... More >>

UPDATE: Health Department Head Pam Walker Suggests Minor Precautions for Residents Near Steam Rupture

[Update, Monday, April 9: Cleanup crews finished removing all the potentially dangerous debris from the one-block area surrounding the pipe rupture on Sunday. Test results that prove the area is free of asbestos contamination are not yet back, and Trigen-St. Louis Energy, the company that maintains ... More >>

Thomas Voss: Ameren Exec Gets A Raise After Down Year

​Ameren Chief Executive Thomas Voss received a healthy 15 percent raise in 2011, bumping up his salary to $900,000. That doesn't sound too substantial for the head honcho at a big business, and it isn't. Voss also got more stock, a $1.1 million bonus, a $351,000 increase in his pension fund, and $ ... More >>

Electric Bill Short-Circuits Pam's Chicago Style Dogs & More

Ian FroebDark days at Pam's Chicago Style Dogs​Pam's Chicago Style Dogs & More (6016 Delmar Boulevard; 314-721-7267) will be closed until at least Wednesday, October 26, after Ameren UE apparently turned off its power due to an unpaid bill."We do apologize, but due to an Ameren UE issue, mostl ... More >>

Ameren Fired Contractor for Flagging Environmental Violations, Lawsuit Says

​A lawsuit filed on behalf of a local plumbing contractor alleges the company lost its contract with utility giant Ameren -- after the contractor informed Ameren management of violations of environmental law and illegal discharge of pollutants.The suit was filed by Bishop & Associates, owned b ... More >>

Radiation! It's In Your Food! Put Down the Geiger Counter, Poindexter.

Wikimedia Commons​ The truly horrible catastrophe in Japan keeps threatening people nearly two weeks after the initial earthquakes and tsunami. The nuclear power plants are damaged and there's radiation in the water, spinach and milk! Quick! Stop all exports of these products to the U.S.! Bec ... More >>

Fenton Drug Company in Overdrive After Japan Quake

​Amid panic about nuclear plants exploding after huge earthquakes hit Japan, a local drug manufacturer is seeing a run on a medicine that protects against radiation poisoning. The over-the-counter drug, ThyroShield, saturates the thyroid with potassium idodide so that it can't absorb radiation. "I ... More >>

Let's Get Lit: City Offers Free Light Bulbs as Ameren Gets Sued

​This just in from City Hall: On Jan. 17, 6,000 lucky St. Louisans will be the recipients of brand new eco-friendly light bulbs. Mayor Slay is scheduled to appear at a press conference this afternoon to announce a new initiative touting energy consumption, co-sponsored by Ameren Missouri. As ... More >>

How Much Are Lobbyists Spending on Your St. Louis Alderman?

kaciestarrtriplett.comKacie Starr Triplett (Ward 6) leads the Board of Aldermen with $1,327 in lobbyist expenditures this year.​Poor St. Louis Aldermen. Sure, their $32,000 a year salary is nothing to sneeze at and roughly on par with what state reps ($36k) and senators ($31k) earn. But when it co ... More >>

Ameren Installs "Swan Diverters" on Power Lines to Save Migratory Birds

Coutesy Ameren Missouri​A helicopter team is performing aerial daredevil work near Alton this week in an effort to save migrating trumpeter swans, the largest waterfowl in North America.  On Monday specialists with Haverfield Aviation began installing "swan diverters" from power lines running ... More >>

The Truth About Walt Whitman and the North Grand Water Tower

image via​We uncovered a lot of fascinating stories last summer while we were compiling our Literary St. Louis project, and one of our favorites was that Walt Whitman's brother, Thomas Jefferson Whitman (known as Jeff), had designed and built the water tower on North Grand Avenue and 20th Stre ... More >>

Missouri's E. coli problems are not confined to the Lake of the Ozarks

St. Louis to Resume Twice Weekly Trash Pick Up; Considering Curbside Recycling

'Cause we don't want our alleys looking like this.​Mayor Francis Slay's office today announced that St. Louis is resuming twice-weekly trash pick up effective immediately. In an effort to save money, the city began a trial once-a-week trash pick up program last November that affected about 40 per ... More >>

This Week in Trash: St. Louis Catering Company Will Start Liquifying Its Leftovers

Image sourceMeet the Orca Green, the very latest in waste disposal.​How do you dispose of your trash? Do you shove it in a plastic bag and send it off to decompose in a landfill? Do you shove it down your garbage disposal and let the little blades chop it into tiny bits that can float through ... More >>

Missouri Attorney General Sues 10 Firms for Polluting Lake of the Ozarks

Lake of the Ozark's water. So refreshing!​Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster announced today that he is filing suit against ten businesses for violations of the Missouri Clean Water Law. All ten businesses allegedly discharged pollutants into Lake of the Ozarks or its nearby tributaries. The ... More >>

Crap: Missouri's Next Sustainable Energy Resource?

Image viaCrap: lawmakers are full of it, utility companies want to make good use of it.​The Missouri Senate moved forward with a bill yesterday that would make the methane gas produced by animal waste a part of the state's renewable energy program for utility companies.The proposed law (SB 848) do ... More >>

Finally, a Naming Rights Story That Really Works

​I'm ordinarily not a huge fan of selling naming rights. Selling the rights to the name of a stadium is how we end up with things like Qualcomm Stadium and 3Com Park at Candlestick Point and Great American Ballpark. Of course, that last one sounds okay until you realize Great American is the ... More >>

Nick Jonas and the Administration

7 p.m. Tuesday, January 19. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Boulevard.

Alderwoman Takes on Downtown "Racket"; Says Trash Trucks Too Noisy

Trash collection was making some downtown residents grouchy.​St. Louis alderwoman Kacie Starr Triplett this morning introduced legislation regulating the hours that trash trucks can haul waste from businesses located near residential property. On her blog today, the downtown alderwoman (Ward 6) wr ... More >>

What Price Green? A rattled Chesterfield neighborhood says the droning noise of Parkway Central's recycling plant far outweighs environmental benefits

Still Shakey After All These Years

High Spirits

Cards Blog: Nats Go Down, Cubs Fans Are Primed

Cards Blog: Nats Go Down, Cubs Fans Are Primed

Sacred Garbage?

Native Americans trash plans to expand a sprawling Illinois landfill.

Timber!

Chain saws at the ready, AmerenUE confronts the vestiges of the '06 storms.

What, a Dump?

Environmentalists decry the expansion of a gigantic Illinois landfill.

"Damn! Every time a person farts too loud, out goes the lights."

Week of August 24, 2006

The Man Behind the Mask

WWE's Rey Mysterio has game to spare, Harold Ramis helps clear up a misconception, and Bill Haas shows his sensitive side; plus, Unreal lends support to a fellow muckraker injured in the line of duty

Want Fries With That?

Collinsville pours it on thick celebrating its beloved Catsup Bottle

Splish-Splash

Busted waterworks balloon shows Slay hasn't learned a Cardinal rule

Power Play

California's troubles slowed deregulation here, but Ameren is preparing to turn up the juice

Trash Talk

From the top of Mount Milam to the depths of the Pit with the people who take out St. Louis' garbage

RIPPLE EFFECT

A statewide fight over the biggest-ever water-rate-increase request could spill over into St. Louis County