Missouri bill targeting environmental protections moves ahead in House

Missouri legislators are moving forward with an effort to loosen the state’s environmental regulations that critics contend could harm the state’s water and air — and its budget. 

Business groups and Republican lawmakers say the bill would help businesses that are treated unfairly by an “aggressive” Missouri Department of Natural Resources. 

“At the end of the day, these are attacks on businesses and individuals,” Sen. Eric Burlison, a Battlefield Republican, told colleagues during a Senate committee hearing earlier this year.