Patricia Schuba

Patricia Schuba

• Biologist  
• President of the Board, Labadie Environmental Organization

[EJ] Patricia Schuba

Patricia Schuba, Biologist, President of the Board, Labadie Environmental Organization

As a biologist and former healthcare worker, Patricia has been on the frontline of advocating for her community and the cleanup of one of the largest uncontrolled coal-fired power plants left in the United States. The Ameren Labadie Power Plant in rural Missouri has contributed hundreds of thousands of tons of toxins and particulates to the air that she and her neighbors have breathed most of their lives. The town of Labadie sits on the rolling hills surrounding the Missouri River as it meanders west of St. Louis City and County. Millions of residents and visitors to the area are exposed to high levels of air pollution that exacerbate asthma and contribute to 195 deaths per year according to a 2023 report. The Sierra Club report also found that Labadie is the second deadliest plant in the nation. Labadie Environmental Organization’s mission is to educate and empower the public to speak directly to regulators and hasten the cleanup and protections the community deserves under the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act.

The Labadie Plant shares a floodplain with hikers and bikers that use the nationally renowned Katy Trail State Park and surrounding wineries and farmland. Most of the residents of Labadie live within 2-5 miles of the power plant stacks and many families have lived in the immediate area for generations. LEO has advocated for over a decade for protecting local groundwater and air from the Labadie Plant’s coal ash and uncontrolled air emissions. Unfortunately, state regulators have allowed the pollution to continue, and the state’s Regional Haze State Implementation Plan calls for no reductions in emissions from any coal-fired power plants in the state. Many local families have generations invested in living in this rural community and either cannot or do not wish to move. So, instead, they fight for the protections they deserve. LEO has demanded that EPA reject the Missouri Regional Haze State Implementation Plan and instead approve a Federal Implementation Plan for regional haze that prioritizes protections for the environment, people and our parks.   

Missourians, and especially frontline communities like Patricia’s, have paid in lives for the inactions of state regulators – they deserve a strong federally written and enforceable regional haze plan that requires reductions in air toxics produced by Missouri’s greatest offender.