Call to Action: File Your Letters to FERC
Below is an email I received from the Lake of the Ozarks Convention and Visitors Bureau.
If you are like me and think that FERC has more important things to do than dictate to us where a deck is put and how Ameren runs its business, please read and respond!
This change could literally cost people their homes and life savings!
CALL TO ACTION: FILE YOUR LETTERS TO FERC
Summary:
As you may be aware the Federal Energy Commission (FERC) recently promulgated an order regarding the Shoreline Management Plan prepared and filed by Ameren Missouri as part of the re-licensing of Bagnell Dam and the management of the Lake of the Ozarks.
Essentially FERC has ordered that all improvements, from homes to gazebos, located within the "project boundary" be identified and registered as "nonconforming structures". Under the proposed FERC rules, Ameren is required to register each "nonconforming structure" by May 1, 2012. FERC further mandates that all "nonconforming structures" will be either:
1. Removed (A plan and schedule for removal must be submitted to FERC)
2. Allowed to be temporarily located within the project boundary on the condition that a plan be submitted to FERC setting forth the reasons for the temporary continual location within the "project boundary" together with a plan for the timetable for removal of the offending "nonconforming structure";
3. Withdrawn from the "project boundary" through a potentially very expensive application process to FERC that will require FERC to individually approve of each such withdrawal.
As you can see the end result of this FERC mandate is that no "nonconforming structures" will ultimately exist at the Lake of the Ozarks.
Ameren has requested a rehearing of the FERC order so that the mandate regarding the removal of existing "nonconforming structures" can be subject to further discussion and, hopefully, a softening of the heavy-handed approach of FERC in this matter. Ameren has been supported in their request for a rehearing by letters from each of the Lake area's chambers as well as many other letters, including letters from our elected federal, state and local officials. More letters are needed-with FERC the volume of the opposition makes a difference.
We recommend that lake area businesses and residents write to FERC stating that their mandates regarding the Lake of the Ozarks will have a significant negative economic impact on the community, while providing a very minimal environmental or aesthetic enhancement. Ameren Missouri has requested a common sense approach to a very complex issue and we recommend supporting their request for rehearing. Please consider writing to FERC at the address below and expressing your opposition to their order regarding "nonconforming structures" as that term is used in the Ameren Shoreline Management Plan. A sample letter is attached at the clinkable link below (FERC Sample Letter) that can be utilized for your company letterhead.
FERC Sample Letter - http://www.funlake.com/cvb_members/FERCSampleMemberLetter.pdf
Address:
Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
888 First Street NE
Routing Code: GC-10
Washington , D.C. 20426
Sincerely,
Tim Jacobsen
Executive Director
Lake of the Ozarks CVB
573.348.1599
tim@funlake.com