The Scars of Project 459: The Environmental Story of the Lake of the Ozarks

3. Sounding the Alarm

CHAPTER 3 Sounding the Alarm Heavy clouds hanging low will bring drenching rains from the heavens, and every hillside gully, friendly creek and singing rivulet must add their bit to the rising waters. So long unshackled and free, they will dash fretfully against the great retaining wall, pitting their impatient strength against its indomitable surface. But in time the leashed giant will gradually cease its struggles to be free; the Lake will settle into silent beauty at evening homeward winding birds may pause to drink; boats will slide hither and yon upon its glassy surface while the unrivaled beauty of green-clad upland and whispering trees that guard its coasts will be refleted [sic] in the quiet depths. And while this sleeping giant will be the stronghold of dynamic forces that must go forth to electrify the busy wheels of great industries, many tired and brain-weary city folk will find soothing rest and balm for tortured nerves in the quietude and picturesque beauty that surrounds the new Lake of the Ozarks.1 —MARCH 15, 1932, LAKE OF THE OZARKS NEWS Early-morning fog hugs the hills of the roads leading to the Lake of the Ozarks and Osage River valley. Only a few boats will cut wakes behind them today. It’s January 2012, the off-season, and only the residents with regular jobs travel the highways that compose the lake’s main drag. This morning the movers and shakers and the just curious are headed to a Camdenton Chamber of Commerce breakfast with a presentation from Ameren about the shoreline-management details that have snagged newspaper headlines and created many headaches for Ameren’s spokesperson Jeff Green. Green, in turn, coordinated town hall and public meetings to keep peace and answer growing concerns.2 The problems started after Ameren submitted a shorelinemanagement plan to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to address the lake’s environmental, recreational, historical, and other concerns. It’s part of the process to relicense the company. Part of the plan was the redrawing of property lines that could mean the removal of nearly 1,500 homes if the boundaries were redrawn because Ameren actually owns the land on which they were built. That means a lot of fired-up homeowners who purchased and built homes over the decades want to know how it is they’ve lost the right to the property they thought they owned.3 Missouri’s congressional representatives have stepped into the fight. The state Department of Natural Resources also is involved. And what the battle highlights is more evidence that for many years someone failed to watch or speak up about the development that was going on at the lake, even allowing developers to sell land that the utility company owned. That land could have potentially buffered the water’s edge and helped to maintain ecological conditions. Green is the shoreline manager at the lake and he is also a familiar face in the community. His wife works with Tri-County Lodging Association, a group which is a tourism advocate and promoter for the lake area. He’s gone to small lake towns to spread the word about the management plan and to try to ensure that residents receive correct information. As the company continues to hash out a plan with the federal agency, Green is fielding questions from people at a Chamber breakfast who are scratching their heads on how it could be that someone who owns a house at the lake might have to surrender it because of someone else’s oversight. “We’ve got to come up with policies and do things differently in the future,” Green says after a PowerPoint presentation that noted the timeline of shoreline-management plan events and how the situation evolved. 22 SOUNDING THE ALARM There are approximately twenty-seven thousand lake homes and only 6 percent will be affected, he reassures them. In recent years, everyone has shown greater sensitivity about development around inland lakes, he says. “At the end of the day, we will continue on the way we always have,” he says. But that still leaves some baffled. “So you are saying that developers sold land that Ameren owned,” says Craig Bischof of SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives), a small-business–nonprofit organization. “How can they do that?” It’s unlikely something like that can happen today, and everyone needs to move forward on how...