USA – Judge throws out environmentalist anti-mining suit

Environmentalists seeking to void a permit for limestone mining from a quarry along the Mississippi River, north of Ste Genevieve, have suffered a setback as their lawsuit has been thrown out by St Louis County Circuit Judge B C Drumm Jr.

In his ruling, Mr Drumm Jr stated that the Missouri Land Reclamation Commission acted properly and didn’t violate the state’s open meeting law when it issued the permit in August to Holcim Inc. He also suggested that the environmental groups concerned, ie the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, the Ozark chapter of the Sierra Club, the Webster Groves Nature Study Society and the American Bottom Conservancy, lacked standing to bring the case as they have never raised their environmental concerns to the cement maker.

The mining permit allows Holcim to quarry limestone from 1600 acres adjacent to its proposed US$600m cement plant, the largest in the USA.