Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Contact: Spence Jackson, 573-751-0290
Blunt Directs DNR to Employ Authority over Shoreline Management Provisions
JEFFERSON CITY–Gov. Matt Blunt today directed the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to exercise environmental provisions related to Bagnell Dam operation and said AmerenUE needs to shelve significant parts of its proposed Shoreline Management Plan for the Lake of the Ozarks and to seek additional public input for the federally required plan. The plan was contained in the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) Environmental Assessment for the hydropower license for AmerenUE’s Osage Hydroelectric Project.
The hydropower license is required to operate Bagnell Dam. FERC requires AmerenUE to develop and implement a Shoreline Management Plan as a condition of the new federal license.
“While I appreciate AmerenUE’s obligation to protect the environmental resources at the Lake of the Ozarks, some of the provisions contained in the proposed Shoreline Management Plan raise significant concerns,” Blunt said. “The Impact Minimization Zone provisions have potentially far reaching negative implications for jobs, tourism and economic development in the communities surrounding the Lake of the Ozarks. The controversial provisions would also unfairly infringe upon the rights of property owners at the lake.”
FERC has the ultimate authority over the shoreline management provisions of the new federal license. However, Blunt has directed DNR to use its authority under the Section 401 Water Quality Certification to direct AmerenUE to remove the Impact Minimization Zone provisions from the Shoreline Management Plan.
Blunt further recommended that FERC and AmerenUE work with interested citizens at the Lake of the Ozarks and with Missouri’s natural resource agencies, DNR and the Department of Conservation, in a public process conducted in all counties surrounding the lake.
“It is my hope that this public process will lead to the development of environmental criteria that will fairly balance all interests in future permitting decisions,” Blunt said. “I have heard from many frustrated citizens, landowners and public officials that they were not given adequate opportunity to participate in the development of AmerenUE’s proposed Shoreline Management Plan.”
The removal of Impact Minimization Zone shoreline management provisions from the new federal license for the Osage Project should not delay the issuance of the new federal license.
The new license for the Osage Project could provide for the public process as outlined above. “This would ensure a balanced approach to the protection of the natural resources at the Lake of the Ozarks and not infringe upon private property rights or harm the economies of communities around the lake,” DNR Director Doyle Childers said. “We are confident that an approach exists for addressing shoreline management issues that can balance the needs of interested citizens, while still protecting the natural resources within the project area.”
FERC held two public meetings at the lake last week to allow for public comment on its proposed environmental assessment for the new license for Bagnell Dam as well as AmerenUE's shoreline management plan. Several hundred people attended the meetings and provided comments on the Impact Minimization Zone provisions in AmerenUE's proposed shoreline management plan.
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View copy of Gov. Blunt's letter to DNR here