Schuba echoed those same “risk-based” concerns last year, when the state Legislature was preparing to pass the bill that utilities helped shape. She argues now that utilities should not be allowed to “walk away from the pollution they’ve created,” particularly given concerns about groundwater impacts from ash ponds — which are often situated in floodplains of major waterways, including the Missouri River and Mississippi River.

Even if coal ash contamination is diluted by those adjacent rivers, Lipeles argues that it sets a troubling precedent that could threaten drinking water drawn from the rivers over time.

“You say that to every source and your rivers become sewers,” said Lipeles.

But other things included in — or omitted from — the DNR’s proposed guidelines have raised eyebrows. One example is the absence of language that would require utilities to continue public disclosure of data about contamination around coal ash sites. That is currently one of the lone windows that public watchdogs have to track the issue.

“All the ponds in Missouri for which we have data are causing groundwater contamination,” said Lipeles. “This is a statewide issue.”