Alert

WASHINGTON, D.C. – To protect private landowners at the Lake of the Ozarks, U.S. Senators Roy Blunt and Claire McCaskill have introduced legislation that will prevent the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) from issuing any plan that would require the removal of homes, businesses and other structures built within the boundary of a hydroelectric project.

In July, FERC issued a shoreline management plan for the Osage Hydroelectric Project at the Lake of the Ozarks as a part of AmerenUE’s (Ameren) license to operate the Osage Hydroelectric power plant.  The plan requires Ameren  to remove any structures, homes, or businesses built within the project boundary along the lakefront, impacting approximately four thousand properties. 

In September, Blunt and McCaskill strongly urged FERC to rescind its plan and allow Ameren to redraw the project boundary.  Now, they have introduced the bipartisan Landowner Protection Act, which would prohibit FERC from issuing any shorelines management plan that requires the removal of structures along the lake, and would be enforced retroactively to January, 2011—thereby applying to FERC’s current management plan.

Blunt and McCaskill called the legislation “an insurance policy” in the event that FERC fails to reach a fair resolution.

“This is an example of another federal agency acting as if commonsense has been thrown out the window. People have been paying taxes on this property for years, and in some cases, decades. The federal government does not own this property, and this is a ridiculous overreach by the Obama Administration,” said Blunt. “I'm committed – through this legislation and through my role on the Senate Appropriations Committee – to find a way to make sure this is resolved in a way that makes sense.”

“Talk about a lack of common sense—telling Missourians who built homes on the Lake in good faith that their homes have to be torn down is just plain crazy, and it’s a perfect example of unelected bureaucrats needing to be held accountable,” McCaskill said.  “This bill would serve as an option of last resort in case the bureaucrats at FERC fail in their duty to reach a fair and just resolution.”

The measure, which would serve as an amendment to the Federal Power Act, would protect most existing waterfront properties, and would only allow for the removal of structures that were constructed “in bad faith,” where the owners knowingly built within the project boundary.