Last week, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia invalidated a rule issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that would have prevented state and locate authorities from supplementing inadequate monitoring requirements for air pollution sources under the Clean Air Act.

The 1990 Amendments to the Clean Air Act compel certain stationary sources of air pollution to obtain permits from state and local authorities that identify all emission limits for the source and also include monitoring requirements sufficient to assure compliance with the permit terms and conditions. Sometimes, the monitoring requirements set forth in the Clean Air Act itself do not assure compliance with the Clean Air Act's emissions standards. For example, some standards require daily compliance with emissions standards but only call for yearly monitoring.

EPA originally issued a guidance document, and attempted to promulgate a rule, that allowed state and local authorities to "fill the gap" left by the Clean Air Act. In other words, EPA allowed state and local governments, such as the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, to require daily emissions monitoring to assure compliance with Clean Air Act emissions standards.

Industry sued the EPA alleging that the EPA had overstepped its authority under the Clean Air Act because the Clean Air Act did not expressly provide for emissions monitoring by state and local governments. Rather than fight the litigation, EPA issued an amended rule prohibiting state and local governments from supplementing the Clean Air Act's emission standards.

As soon as the amended rule became final, the Sierra Club sued EPA, arguing that the amended rule violates the Clean Air Act on its face. The United States District Court for the District of Columbia agreed.

In a two-to-one decision, the District Court found that EPA's amended rule was contrary to the statutory directive that each Clean Air Act permit include adequate monitoring requirements. In other words, if the emissions standard required daily compliance, state and local governments must require daily monitoring in order to assure compliance with the daily emissions standard. Yearly monitoring would be inadequate and contrary to the Clean Air Act.

Litter is both an eyesore and a health hazard because it attracts diseases, provides a home for pests and serves as a breeding ground for their young. As a result, whether you refer to it as trash, litter, garbage, solid waste, or refuse, litter cannot be dumped onto our private or public land in Missouri.

Three laws make littering a crime in Missouri. First, under the Solid Waste Management Law, no one can dump waste in any place except a licensed solid-waste disposal area.  There are a few exceptions to the general rule that bans dumping.  For example, a homeowner may dump residential waste generated in his home on his own property so long as it does not cause a nuisance.  And a farmer may store solid waste on his property for use in normal farming operations. The Law gives state and local officials the authority to compel an illegal dumper to clean up the unauthorized solid waste disposal area, no matter what the cost. In addition, the violator may face a fine of up to $100.00 per day until the garbage is removed. For more on the Solid Waste Management Law, check out our earlier post on Landfill operations.

Second, the Litter Laws of 1979 make it illegal to throw rubbish of any kind onto any land or water owned by the state or federal government, as well as, the private property of another without his or her consent. Under the Litter Laws, consent is a defense to littering on private property, but anyone dumping refuse onto another person's land is probably violating the Solid Waste Management Law anyway unless the other persons' land is a licensed solid waste disposal facility. Littering is a Class A misdemeanor, so anyone convicted of littering may be imprisoned in the county jail for up to one year and fined up to $1,000.00.

Third, the county commission in each county may choose to use the County Option Dumping Ground Law to further punish litterers. Under this law, individuals who want to operate an open dump in counties that have adopted the law must apply to the county for a license. Anyone who dumps garbage on land that is not licensed may be fined up to $1,000.00 or imprisoned up to one year in the county jail.

In addition to criminal sanctions, persons adversely affected by littering can sue the illegal dumper in civil court for trespass (if the dumping occurred on the person's property) or public or private nuisance (if the dumping occurred on adjacent property).

To report illegal dumping in your area, simply contact your local sheriff's department, highway patrol office, or conservation agent. Have the following information ready to relay to the authorities: description of the violator's vehicle, license number of the vehicle, location of illegal dumping, and description of offenders.  Or, you can submit an online complaint to the Attorney General's Office here.  Let's work together to clean up illegal dumps.

Open burning is illegal in Missouri, but many people don't know what it means. Open burning is the burning of any material in which air contaminants are emitted directly into the air without first passing through a stack or chimney, according to the Missouri Air Conservation Law and Regulations.

Some open burning is permitted under the Missouri Air Conservation Law, but much to the surprise of many Missouri residents, most open burning is illegal and subject to a fine of up to $10,000. The open burning of most trade, construction, and demolition waste, as well as petroleum-based products, and waste tires is prohibited because toxins that are released into the atmosphere as a result of the burning activity are harmful to human health.

In fact, studies show that the open burning of a single household's trash could release pollutants in higher levels than the burning of the trash of thousands of homes by a municipal waste incinerator because the lower combustion temperatures of the incinerator are designed to prevent complete incineration. These pollutants can include dioxins, volatile organic compounds, formaldehyde, hydrogen chloride and naphthalene.

As a result, any waste generated by business, trade, industry, salvage or demolition operation cannot be burned without a permit issued by the Department of Natural Resources. Even then, permits will only be issued for untreated wood. Wastes that can never be burned include tires, rubber, hazardous materials, styrofoam, plastic, petroleum-based products, demolition waste, treated wood, and any asbestos containing material.

So, what can you safely burn in Missouri? Missouri allows the open burning of household refuse from four dwelling units or less provided it originates on the same premises. However, this exemption does not apply to mobile home parks or apartment complexes and only includes materials from routine household activities, such as paper waste and food waste. Open burning is allowed, with zoning restrictions, in the Kansas City, St. Joseph, and Springfield metropolitan areas. Open burning is strictly prohibited in the St. Louis metropolitan area.

Missouri also allows the open burning of yard waste provided that the waste originates and is burned on the same premises. Yard waste includes trees, tree leaves, brush or other vegetation. Check with your local city ordinances for time and date restrictions on the open burning of yard waste.

Missouri residents can burn for fire training purposes, agricultural purposes, land clearing operations, wood processing facility operations, and for recreational purposes. However, these permitted fires should not include anything except vegetative woody materials or untreated wood products where possible.

If you aren't sure whether you can burn something without a permit, contact your local fire department or natural resources office. It's always better to be safe than sorry.