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Gov. Blunt calls for tougher regulations on dams

February 13, 2006
By: Andrea Ramey
State Capital Bureau

Since the Taum Sauk reservoir burst in Southeast Missouri, there has not been a flood of legislation to further regulate Missouri's weak dam laws.

But new recommendations from Governor Blunt could change that.

Andrea Ramey has more from the state Capitol.

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Based off of a Department of Natural Resources study, Governor Blunt made recommendations on dam safety laws and regulations.

Changes to the law could bring the total of dams inspected in Missouri from 600 to 5,000.

Representative J.C. Kuessner's district covers the Taum Sauk reservoir.

He wants to make sure the Governor doesn't push for unfunded mandates.

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Contents: "Is the state going to step up and put engineers in place to regulate three-times more dams? We already have a tight budget and so when you talk about more inspecting and closer scrutiny, then you're going to be talking about more employees."

Kuessner says the Governor cut funding from DNR a couple years ago, which forced the agency to fire several dam inspectors.

From the state Capitol, I'm Andrea Ramey.