KSHB 41 reporter Isabella Ledonne covers issues surrounding government accountability and solutions. She's covered the Henry County story for several months. Share your story with Isabella.
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Evergy is facing two lawsuits out of Henry County, both claiming that the company mishandles its fly ash waste from other facilities. The power company requested both of those cases be moved out of Henry County court jurisdiction.
This comes after alleged chemical contamination from Evergy's former coal plant site in Montrose, Missouri, led to widespread community concerns and calls for action.
A Henry County couple filed their lawsuit against Evergy back in January. Attorneys hired a third-party company, Triangle Science and Engineering, to do chemical testing in the community and at the school district. Those results revealed cancer-causing chemicals arsenic, lead, radium and hexavalent chromium at higher than acceptable levels in the town's soil.
Hexavalent chromium is a common by-product of fly ash material.
At a town hall meeting in January, Evergy officials stated the company's Montrose facility is not to blame for any chemical contaminants as they continue to properly discard fly ash material.
The Davis R-12 School District hired another third-party company to complete another testing sample on campus grounds. Those results showed "concerning" levels of arsenic, lead, cobalt and hexavalent chromium in the school ground soil. The district is still awaiting the results of hexavalent chromium testing from inside school buildings.
However, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) testing states there are no concerning chemical levels at Evergy's fly ash deposit site.
Henry County's North Side Commissioner explained they conducted their own testing with Evergy's Montrose facility and are expecting the results in the next few weeks.
"This is a community that makes their money from tourism, from lake stuff, all sorts of different areas like that," said Mark Larson, commisssioner. "This is going to affect that, so we need to get to the bottom of it, find out what's going on."
Davis R-12 students and staff are currently learning off-site at a nearby church. School board members explained at Tuesday night's meeting there are no plans to return to the campus until the county has completed its testing. They also discussed solutions to return to the building, including more testing and removing up to six inches of soil in the ground. No decisions were made at Tuesday night's meeting.
The initial lawsuit from the Henry County couple prompted dozens of people to contact attorney Kenneth McClain and his office. McClain and his team of attorneys have filed class action lawsuits against Evergy for property damage and personal illness.
"We wanted to be sure that we were taking care of as many people as possible," McClain said. "There are literally thousands of people that would be covered by the definition within the class."
Evergy requested to move the class action suits to federal court and out of Henry County's jurisdiction.
"I'm sure that Evergy does not want to face the residents of Henry County who have endured shutting down the Clinton power plant so that all the jobs have been lost, and then leaving behind the contamination that was generated over the years with none of the benefit, then further adding insult to injury by bringing in pollution from other places," McClain said.
The power company also requested to move the individual lawsuit to another jurisdiction. A Cedar County judge will now be ruling over the case instead of a Henry County judge.
Documents claim Evergy wanted to move courts in the class action cases because Congress expanded federal jurisdiction to class action lawsuits.
McClain explained his office is prepared to handle a federal court if the case stays there.
"Time after time, we've had inadequate oversight in the state of Missouri for such problems," McClain said. "That's why these lawsuits are necessary."
Attorneys believe there are a number of individual illness cases that are strong enough to stand apart from the class action suit. They expect more developments to come in the next month.
"Rural America has become the dumping ground of corporate polluters," McClain said. "What we're bringing here is an action to say, at least here, stop and go no further. And furthermore, clean up your own mess."
Evergy responded to our request for comment with a statement.
"The safety of Henry County and all communities we serve is important to us," a spokesperson wrote. "The storage facility at Montrose is compliant with environmental regulations, including all groundwater testing. Materials are transported using sealed bottle trucks that prevent dust from escaping. Many of the materials said to be found in Henry County are frequently found and commonly used in and around Missouri, including in various agricultural products, cement and paint, as well as in the soil and rocks."
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