Criminal suit brought in Taum Sauk disaster case

According to the Springfield News-Leader:

Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon sued Ameren Corp. on Wednesday over the Taum Sauk reservoir collapse, alleging the company endangered lives and caused millions of dollars in damage by placing profits ahead safety at the hydroelectric plant.

Quad State Trail Plan

The mountaintop reservoir collapsed just before dawn one year ago today. A breach in its earthen walls sent a deluge of 1 billion gallons of water rushing over the popular Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park below. The campground was empty, but the park superintendent and his family were injured while being swept away in the flood. The park is still being repaired.

"This was one of the worst man-made disasters in Missouri's history, and our lawsuit alleges a long history of decisions by Ameren and its employees that led to this catastrophe," Nixon said at a news conference in St. Louis.

The Katy Trail Connection to Kansas City will be affected by this lawsuit, because Ameren controls the rail connection from the Katy to KC. The Governor and the Attorney General have asked Ameren to include the Katy Connection in the Taum Sauk settlement talks that have been going on for almost a year.

Those talks involved a civil settlement for the damages and the Attorney General has always reserved the possibility of filing criminal charges in addition.

At this point it is difficult to assess the significance of this action by the Attorney General. It could be a way of ratcheting up the pressure on Ameren to agree to the state's points in the negotiations over reparations for the disaster--including the Katy Trail Connection.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch offers another angle on the lawsuit:

Officials of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources were scathing in their reaction, calling the lawsuit "political grandstanding" and accusing Nixon of hurting the case.

On Tuesday, the department announced it had offered a settlement proposal to Ameren.

Nixon and Natural Resources officials have clashed for months over Taum Sauk. In June, the department said it had removed Nixon, whose office represents state officials in legal actions, from the case.