Today's Columbia Missourian has an article about the lawsuit the MIssouri Attorney General has filed against the Missouri Dept. of Natural Resources regarding the Katy Bridge at Boonville:
Attorney General Jay Nixon made a bold move Thursday by suing the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and its director to stop plans to relinquish the state’s stake in the historic MKT lift bridge at Boonville.
Gov. Matt Blunt and the DNR want to give the bridge to Union Pacific Railroad, which intends to demolish it and reuse the parts to help refurbish a bridge over the Osage River.
Nixon said neither the DNR nor its director, Doyle Childers, have the right to “cede the state’s interest in the bridge to benefit a private company, and for no compensation.” . . .
The suit, filed in the Cooper County Circuit Court, asks the court to decide whether the DNR and Childers have constitutional authority to grant, convey, release or surrender the interest in the bridge, as stated in the 1987 agreement.
Nixon said the easement is a $10 million asset and that the state shouldn’t give up the easement to Union Pacific Railroad. “I don’t think we should do it,” he said.
Nixon said he is also concerned about creating a gap in the Katy Trail corridor.
