Missouri Coalition for the Environment, a non-profit, non-partisan, 501(c)(3) state-level conservation organization, campaigns for clean air, clean water and clean energy in Missouri. The organization is member and grant supported.
History
Missouri Coalition for the Environment (MCE) was founded in 1969 out of a convention at the Missouri Botanical Garden. The group served as Missouri's first citizen-based action group. By 1971 MCE had become a more solid organization, with a permanent group of board members. The founders came from diverse backgrounds. Notable figures such as Lewis Green and Leo Drey had strong background knowledge of environmental issues and implemented practical resolutions. "... since its founding by such distinguished luminaries as Leo A. Drey, R. Walston Chubb, Dr. Barry Commoner, Lewis C. Green and Emily Ullman, . . .the Coalition has been an ever present champion for the development of rational and effective environmental programs."Buzz Westfall, St. Louis County Executive, October 1994
The 1970s
Shortly after the organization began, they took on Union Electric and their plans to build a nuclear power plant in Callaway County, MO. The Callaway Nuclear Generating Station was to become Missouri's first nuclear plant. MCE opposed the idea of nuclear power but construction of the plant could not be stopped. In 1976, MCE launched a campaign to prohibit a Union Electric rate increases that would force customers to pay for construction work in progress (CWIP). Due to MCE's efforts, an anti-CWIP law was passed with a 2 to 1 vote, but MCE's fight against the plant was not over. In 1980, MCE testified during Public Service Commission hearings on a plan to build a second reactor. Two weeks following the trial the plans were canceled.
In 1978 MCE began to get involved with Forest Park. Plans were announced to relocate the St. Louis Science Center to park's south side. MCE opposed. Although the Science Center was eventually built, MCE was influential in the planning process. During this same period plans were made to expand parking for the old Arena into the park during the 1970s, MCE opposed them. The campaign was a success and no green space was lost to the Arena, which was demolished about 20 years later.
The Earth City floodplain on the Missouri River in west St. Louis County was another major issue for Missouri Coalition for the Environment during the 1970s. In 1971, MCE filed a lawsuit against floodplain development, winning a seminal ruling prohibiting development below the high-water mark without a federal permit. The lawsuit also resulted in a decree preserving the land between the Earth City levee and the Missouri River as open space. The case was used a precedent in many other decisions involving the Corps of Engineers and development in flood plains since the court decision forced the Corp to extend their jurisdiction.
the 1980s
During the 1980s floodplains were threatened again when plans to build a large sports stadium on the Maryland Heights floodplain surfaced. The large dome would have housed a majority of St. Louis's sporting events, causing not only harm to the floodplain itself but also producing a large amount of commuter pollution and moving attractions from downtown. MCE was able to prevent construction and pave the way for a new stadium in the city with a much smaller environmental impact. In 1997, MCE launched a campaign to keep the Horseshoe Casino out of the area. Eventually, a federal court order was won, prohibiting the Nevada casino from docking a gambling boat at Earth City.
The 1990s
During the early 1990s MCE's focus shifted back to Forest Park. In 1992, MCE led a campaign against Proposition 1 which would have allowed for the expansion of Art Museum parking. The proposition failed and over of the Forest Park were saved. During the late 1990s the Coalition closely followed the development of the Forest Park's Master Plan and objected to all instances which would cause environmental harm. Campaigns were launched to support ideas such as a free flowing river, restoration of wetlands and prairies, protection of native plant and animal species and the introduction of a savannah in Kennedy forest. These ideas, incorporated into the final, have now become reality.