Do Over?
DNR presented Ameren with a second settlement agrement today. I have family in the TV news business and I'm trying to figure out all the activity this week. In TV land they call it "news cycle" and someone wants this story to be front and center this week.
posted by staff @ 1:07 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
Here is the Post-Dispair's take on the matter:
http://tinyurl.com/ytbagp
It is front and center because this is the beginning of May, and the end of May is the traditional opening of the tourist season.
The DNR news release is available here. Scroll down to the bottom and you can download a pdf file with the confidential settlement proposals that Ameren and DNR have been trading back and forth.
I've now looked at the settlement proposals from both sides. A few things seem to be agreed upon: Ameren will pay to rebuild JSI; Ameren pay $13M in penalties; Ameren will give a lease / right-of-way for Church Mountain and the Rock Island Line (the last is part of the Katy Trail in western Missouri).
Both sides agree that there are Natural Resource damages that need to be paid. DNR wants $35M earmarked for two special recreation projects: $30M for Rocks Island and $5M for Church Mountain. Ameren wants to pay $10M to the Attorney General, and something from downwards of $20M DNR. DNR's slice gets reduce by the value of the Rock Island / Church Mountain right-of-way / lease (oh, and Ameren's proposal for the lease is 20 years and DNR's is 50). Whatever is left over from the $20M can be further applied to the JSI work for facilities and improvements above 'baseline' restoration, which I'm thinking is things like new trails, scour overlooks, equestrian facilities, enhanced visitor center, etc etc... the stuff that wasn't there before the catastrophe. It's hard to say what, if anything would be left over.
DNR would like two more payments that Ameren hasn't apparently agreed to: $10M for Reynolds County Schools and $10M for the Reynolds County Community Development fund, whatever that is. And whatever this last item is, it's to be administered by County officials, which is nice for them.
I'm going to recheck my numbers then weigh in with an opinion.
(after re-reading this... dang, I guess I should get my own blog!)
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