Friday, August 9, 2013

Floodgates open at the Lake of the Ozarks

It has been just over two years since lake area residents and visitors have seen the flood gates of the Bagnell Dam opened, and on August 7, 2013 the waiting had ended.

After 17 inches of rain the last 7 days Ameren plant engineers decided to open 11 out of 12 floodgates and release tens of thousands gallons of water. The sudden rush of inflow was expected to raise the river a further four feet causing places like Camp Bagnell and Riverview RV Park to be evacuated.

The evacuation took place with its own set of issues from displacement of campers to emergency vehicles warning residents and fighting fires possibly caused by lightning strikes being mired in the hazards of the flash flooding that occurred during the night’s storm.

The dam was built between 1929 and 1931 by Union Electric and at the time the largest man-made lake in the United States. The brainchild of Ralph Street in 1912 the dam’s original plan called for a smaller sixty foot hydroelectric dam that would have resulted in a lake only forty miles long instead of the current 2,453 foot dam and 180 mile long lake (the actual coast line of the lake is 1,100 miles; longer than coast of California!).

SSE founder Stan Schultz commented “When the dam was built it was an engineering

SSE's Bob Arnold, R.L.S., Ken Farris, and
Tony cobb take in the view of the Dam

marvel well ahead of its time. It is rare when a structure is stronger than when it was first built, but back in the 80’s adding tension rods to the bedrock below made the dam even stronger. Even if the northern Truman Dam were to somehow fail Bagnell Dam would remain. The civil engineers who designed the dam didn’t only bring environmentally friendly hydroelectric power to thousands but created an entire destination spot for the whole country. That is what civil engineering is about; making lives better for people.”

To see all the pictures from the open floodgates click HERE!

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

FERC approves new Lake of the Ozarks boundary

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BY JEFFREY TOMICH • jtomich@post-dispatch.com > 314-340-8320

| Posted:

Tuesday, June 5, 2012 11:45 am

FERC could force American Ameren UE to reclaim lake front property

Two buildings in the Lake Valley Condos, center, are among the 4,000 structures — homes, decks, gazebos and patios — built on land that belongs to Ameren Missouri's Bagnell Dam project. This photo is from Sept. 21, 2011. Laurie Skrivan | lskrivan@post-dispatch.com

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission today approved Ameren Missouri's request to re-draw the project boundary for the Osage Hydroelectric project at Lake of the Ozarks to exclude more than 1,500 lakefront homes and other structures in jeopardy of condemnation.

Ameren’s proposal would remove more than 28,000 acres of land around the lake from federal jurisdiction, promising to resolve some of the tumult surrounding a shoreline management plan issued by regulators last summer.

St. Louis-based Ameren owns and manages the lake, Bagnell Dam and Osage hydroelectric plant under FERC's oversight. Terms are spelled out in a 40-year license issued in 2007.

The license requires Ameren to submit a plan to manage land within the Bagnell Dam project, a narrow ring of shoreline encircling the lake. Around much of the lake, the project boundary is defined by elevation, varying from 662 feet to 678 feet above sea level.

The shoreline plan approved by FERC last summer required that homes and other structures built within the Bagnell Dam boundary be "removed, " igniting a furor among lakefront property owners who worried they may lose their homes.

Banks and real estate companies warned it would damage an already fragile real estate market. And Missouri's congressional delegation proposed legislation to limit federal oversight of the lake.

After weeks of criticism, FERC clarified its order last fall, saying the original plan was widely misinterpreted. The agency also scolded Ameren for lax management of shoreline development and ordered a new plan.