UPDATE - Ameren says plans for Church Mountain plant are off
Date: 31-Aug-01
Country: USA
Ameren Development Co., an unregulated subsidiary of St. Louis-based Ameren, which builds power plants, sought to construct a 770 megawatt pumped-storage hydroelectric plant at Church Mountain in Reynolds County, Missouri, 90 miles south of St. Louis.
The company said it plans to withdraw requests it filed last June with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources for permits for a feasibility study.
"In recent days, the views expressed to us have caused us to conclude that it is impossible to go forward with this project in an environmentally sensitive, yet cost-effective, fashion," Ameren Corp.'s president and chief executive Charles Mueller said in a statement.
Some of those environmental objections related to aesthetics, as well as concerns about the impact on flooding and the area's ecosystem, according to Audubon Missouri, the state office of the National Audubon Society and one of the two major environmental organizations, along with the Missouri Parks Association, that opposed the plant.
Prior to the announcement, Ameren's shares closed up 20 cents at $41.71 on the New York Stock Exchange.