Environmental Quality
The Southeast Missouri Regional Planning Commission maintains an Environmental Quality Committee made of representatives of local government, state and federal agencies, economic developers, and private business and industry to discuss issues related to environmental quality in the region. These include efforts to improve air, water, and soil quality, and impacts from and to economic development. The committee has scheduled bi-annual meetings in March and September near the beginning and end of the summer ozone season.
Committee Public Meetings
Information and Reports
The Southeast Missouri Regional Planning Commission joined the EPA’s Ozone Advance Program in 2013 to address the region’s ground-level ozone concerns. This program essentially set out to promote awareness throughout the region. The EPA Advance Program supports states, tribes and local governments that want to take proactive steps to keep their air clean by promoting local actions to reduce ozone and/or fine particle pollution. Our current 2022 Advance Path Forward plan can be found here for review.
The Southeast Missouri Regional Planning Commission keeps track of air quality readings in our 7-county region. Currently there are two air quality monitors administered by Missouri Department of Natural Resources tracking ozone levels. One in Ste. Genevieve County near Bonne Terre and the other located near the community of Farrar in eastern Perry County. Weekly data is published by MoDNR on their website. You can also click this link to see monthly Air Quality Index calendars based on those readings.