Ameren Missouri has filed a plan with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) ensuring that some 1600 homes at the Lake of the Ozarks are not threatened with removal.
The plan revises the shoreline boundary so that most of the homes are not encroaching onto land that is part of Ameren’s Bagnell Dam hydroelectric project. Concerns were raised in July when FERC ordered that structures may need to be removed if they encroach onto the project’s land.
Jeff Green, shoreline management supervisor, says Ameren recognizes the significance of the issue and was committed to submitting the proposal months ahead of the June 2012 deadline.
“We worked with some consultants that had helped us with relicensing on our original shoreline management plan," said Green. "Ameren developed a team to commit almost all their time to this project. We just devoted the necessary resources to create the maps and draft the amendment.”
The plan calls for a lake-wide boundary at 662 feet above sea level, and in some cases lower, for existing dwellings.
FERC has an unspecified amount of time to review and approve the plan.
Meanwhile, Missouri Senators Claire McCaskill and Roy Blunt say they are both pleased with Ameren Missouri’s plan.
McCaskill says she is very proud that Ameren was able to submit the plan months ahead of the deadline.
“We’ve made real progress," said McCaskill. "We’ve got to look at the details of the plan and make sure there aren’t any outlying problems. We’ve got to make sure the legal documents are available to homeowners so that they are confident of their title and more importantly the title companies are confident of their title. And we will continue to monitor that, but this is, in fact, very good news for the Lake of the Ozarks.”
In a statement, Senator Blunt says he is pleased that Ameren heeded his request to submit the plan sooner than later and encourages FERC to accept the proposal as soon as possible.
