Judge approves $61M penalty for Ameren

Judge Rodney Sippel, a federal judge in St. Louis, approved an agreement that calls on Ameren to pay a $61 million penalty.

Ameren previously reached a deal with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Sierra Club to pay the penalty over allegations of illegal air pollution at the electric utility's Rush Island coal plant in Jefferson County.

EPA Region 7 Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Division Director David Cozad said in a statement that the penalty would "provide some measure of justice to the public."

Read more from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.