The ongoing legal dispute involving the state and electric utility Ameren over the 2005 Taum Sauk Reservoir collapse is over as a settlement is reached – a settlement approaching $180-Million. And, that pleases Governor Matt Blunt (R-MO).

Governor Blunt says Ameren will be required to restore and rebuild the area in and around Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park, it will pay $2-Million to the Department of Natural Resources Protection Fund for monitoring water quality on the Black River, and we’ll see an expansion of the KATY Trail. Ameren’s 1.2-Million ratepayers will not have to bear any of the costs related to the Taum Sauk Reservoir collapse.

Blunt says an added bonus of the settlement is that the Katy Trail will be completed from one end of the state to the other and will run from St. Louis to Kansas City.

Download/Listen: Governor Blunt comments on settlement (:20 MP3)