Cole County Omits Compliance History from Permit Notice | The Locally Times
An April 1 public notice for Cole County's stormwater permit renewal omits its compliance history and provides no public comment period.
As an April 1, 2026, deadline approached for a critical environmental permit, Cole County provided minimal information to the public regarding its stormwater management program. This follows a previous report by The Locally Times detailing how the county had not released its application, performance data, or plans for public comment on water quality management. This permit governs the county's municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4s), which are responsible for managing stormwater runoff. The public notice, however, lacks essential context for residents to evaluate the county's performance. ## Notice Lacks Compliance History The county’s public notice for the stormwater permit renewal omits information about its historical compliance with the existing permit. Without this history, residents cannot assess whether the program has successfully protected local waterways or if recurring issues need to be addressed. The record provides no details on past water quality monitoring results, previous violations, or enforcement actions by state regulators. The brief announcement concludes with a prompt to read more, but the public record contained no attached documents or data. ## No Public Comment Period Identified The Cole County notice does not outline a process for public review of the application or specify a period for residents to submit comments. This practice contrasts with other environmental permit notices issued by state agencies. For example, a Missouri Soil and Water Districts Commission notice for Superior Industrial Solutions Inc. established a public comment period from February 6, 2026, to March 8, 2026. A separate notice for Consolidated Grain and Barge defined a comment period from January 30, 2026, to March 1, 2026. While neither scheduled a public hearing, both provided a clear, formal window for public input. Cole County’s notice for its comprehensive stormwater permit includes no such provision. ## Permit Renewal Absent from Public Agendas A review of other public records indicates the stormwater permit renewal has not been a subject of open discussion in other county forums. Agendas posted for Cole County Commission meetings and county bid openings throughout February and March 2026 do not list the MOR04C permit renewal as an explicit topic for discussion or action. Records from meetings on February 26 and March 3 show no mention of the pending application. The full application for the permit renewal remains unavailable in the public record. With the April 1 submission deadline passed, it is unclear what information the county provided to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and why its past performance data was not included in the public notice.