Jan 27, 2025
CLINTON, Mo. -- Henry County, Missouri residents and the County Commission are speaking out about high levels of chemicals found in the air and water in a recent report. It's a story FOX4 brought you Thursday, January 23, and Friday, January 24. Evergy used to have a power plant near Montrose Lake that's at the center of a lawsuit from a county resident. The old plant's nearly 90 minutes southeast of downtown Kansas City, Missouri. The Henry County Commission held a meeting Monday night at the Benson Convention Center as people wanted to hear what the company's response would be to the report from January. Thursday, January 23, FOX4 obtained it from Triangle Environmental Science & Engineering. It revealed drinking water samples exceeding the Radium 226 and total Radium Default Target Levels (DTLs) of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Soil samples exceeded the DNR's DTL for Hexavalent Chromium too, which can cause cancer. Evergy's Chief Customer Officer Chuck Caisley has more questions about the results that the plaintiff, or Bill Steward's party, paid Triangle to come out with. Police investigating aggravated robbery in Mission Hills Monday night "We don't know where these chemicals have come from," Caisley said in an interview with FOX4 before the meeting. "Everybody knows that we have a facility here, and so, as a result, they're pointing at our facility, but the fact of the matter is, we don't know where this comes from." Steward lives near the old plant. At the heart of the suit is fly ash, a biproduct of coal fired power plants. It can pollute the air, water, and soil, if it's not collected and managed properly. Henry County North District Commissioner Mark Larson showed Caisley what he believed was fly ash during the meeting in a picture he showed him. "Whatever you were stirring was not wet, it was flying up in the air," Larson said to Caisley, talking about his crews. "So, which is it? Do you water it? Do you stir it? What's going on here?" "First of all, that looks whiter than I would expect dirt to be," Caisley replied. "But when I came out here on Friday, I drove all around in my truck, and if you look at the outside of that, it never got near the actual landfill, but if you look at the outside of that, it is caked in white, and that was dust that got kicked up and then subsequently got wet, and it stuck to the sides, and you know what it's from? From the gravel roads. There are gravel roads all over this county." Caisley's response drew laughs from the crowd, as the people in attendance didn't believe him. Larson also discussed who could do more testing near the old plant that both sides could agree on would be non-biased. "How about if the county, we'll pay for one test? And let's find out?" Larson said. "By a third party?" Caisley replied. "Yes, by a third party," Larson answered. Download the FOX4 News app on iPhone and Android Additional testing will take time as a spokeswoman for Evergy said that would require the permission of private property owners. Besides that though, Caisley also says they now have the Triangle report that Henry County residents started learning about the week of Monday, January 20. He says his company's reviewing it and may have more of their own analysis on it in less than a week. ...read more read less
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