Ameren agrees to $180 settlement in Mo.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo., Nov. 29 (UPI) -- Missouri has reached a $180 million settlement over the collapse of Ameren's Taum Sauk Reservoir.

The collapse of the St. Louis utility company's reservoir in December 2005 sent 1.3 billion gallons of water rushing through the main use area of Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park, injuring the park superintendent and his family and destroying the park.

"The Ameren Taum Sauk disaster was the worst man-made disaster in the history of Missouri," Gov. Matt Blunt said Wednesday in a news release. "The settlement we reached compensates the people of Reynolds County and the state of Missouri for the loss of natural resources and recreation associated with the Ameren Taum Sauk disaster."

The agreement, signed by representatives several state agencies and Ameren, includes $51 million Ameren has already spent cleaning up the park and river under orders and directives from the state Department of Natural Resources, and over $2 million in oversight costs already paid by Ameren to the DNR for time spent by department staff responding to the event, Blunt's office said.