Missouri Coalition for the Environment (MCE) is a non-profit, non-partisan, 501(c)(3) state-level conservation organization that educates and activates Missourians to protect our natural resources.

Formed in 1969 from the St. Louis Conference on the Environment at the Missouri Botanical Garden, MCE was the first environmental citizen-based action group in the state.  MCE’s founders include Kay and Leo Drey, Lewis C. Green, and Barry Commoner.  In 1970, Commoner appeared on the cover of TIME magazine in conjunction with the first Earth Day celebration.

Throughout our first decade, the MCE remained active on a myriad of environmental issues, including opposing the nuclear power plant in Callaway County, protecting green space in Forest Park, and winning a lawsuit in Earth City that prohibits building in the floodplain below the high-water mark.

In the 1980s, MCE continued to advocate for responsible building practices, successfully preventing the construction of a sports stadium in the Maryland Heights floodplain.  MCE also helped draft and ensure passage of the Missouri State Superfund Law.

During the 1990s, MCE’s campaigns included opposing the Page Avenue extension through Creve Coeur Lake, and incorporated the restoration of wetlands and prairies and free-flowing rivers, and protection of native plant and animal species, into the Forest Park Master Plan.

Beginning in 2000, MCE advocated for residents of Herculaneum, Missouri. As a result, Doe Run, the company that operates the nation’s largest lead smelter in the heart of the town, offered a buyout of homes nearest the smelter and began efforts to clean up contamination in yards, streets, and homes. In 2006, MCE won a lawsuit that forced the EPA to review and enforce national lead pollution standards for the air people breathe. The new standard for lead in the air is ten times more protective of children’s health.

Partnering with Environmental Defense in 2002, MCE convinced the Missouri Department of Natural Resources to turn down the certification for the St. Johns Bayou/New Madrid Floodway Project, preserving 18,000 acres of wetland along the Mississippi River in the Bootheel.

In 2004, MCE reached a landmark settlement with the EPA, requiring a major overhaul of Missouri’s water quality standards and protecting 25,000 miles of streams across the state for recreational use.  However, 158,000 miles of streams remain unclassified and unprotected, and is the focus of much of our work.

MCE launched the Renew Missouri project in 2006 to advance renewable energy with the goal of reducing the state’s dependence on coal powered electricity. In 2007, MCE helped Missouri pass legislation to support true net metering and simple interconnection.

In 2008, MCE and its partners helped Missouri become one of only three states to enact Renewable Electricity Standards through a ballot initiative garnering national attention. MCE’s work has resulted in a renewable electricity standard (RES) of 15% renewable energy by 2021, with a 2% minimum solar requirement. No other state has ever passed these crucial policies in two consecutive years.

Renew Missouri has also helped form the Missouri Solar Energy Industry Association, organizes annual energy festivals in St. Louis and Columbia, and hosts clean energy forums across the state. Through Renew Missouri’s work on public education, outreach to key decision makers, and regulatory oversight, Missouri is no longer one of the lowest ranking states on renewable energy.

MCE harnessed this momentum and, in 2009, expanded the work of Renew Missouri to include energy efficiency. Renew Missouri began advocating for policies that will save ratepayers money on their electric bills, reduce carbon emissions, and increase energy independence.

To learn more about our successes and projects, please check out our Annual Report. Our next Annual Meeting will be Sunday, March 4th, 2012. Please save the date.

Recent Work

• Helped grow the Missouri Solar Energy Industries Association (MOSEIA) from 7 to 22 solar company members in its first full year of operation.
• Continued mediation negotiations over the EPA’s lawsuit on the St. Louis Metropolitan Sewer District’s unpermitted discharges.
• Authorized a legal challenge to defend Prop C, the voter-passed Clean Energy Initiative. Renew Missouri engaged Great Rivers Environmental Law Center (GREL) to represent MCE and file a legal challenge against Empire Electric for its preemptive effort to evade the solar rebate provisions of Prop C.
• Informed Prop C supporters when a Missouri state representative attempted to include nuclear energy under the definition of “renewable” for the purposes of Prop C’s renewable electricity standard which requires investor-owned utilities to obtain 15% of their power from renewables by 2021.