Manager says he felt pressure to boost reservoir's productivity

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A former manager of the Taum Sauk hydroelectric plant told the Missouri Public Service Commission on Thursday that Ameren Corp.'s energy trading unit asked him in 2000 to run the reservoir outside of what he considered safe operating limits, soon after industry deregulation allowed the company to sell more power on the open market.

David Fitzgerald told the PSC that he sent an e-mail to Ameren managers and employees in May 2000 reminding them of Taum Sauk's safety protocols. He said in the e-mail he felt pressure to skirt those protocols to generate as much electricity as possible.

"We had a larger market that was available for us to sell energy into," Fitzgerald said during testimony at a PSC hearing into the Taum Sauk reservoir collapse.

Fitzgerald said Ameren's newly created energy trading unit was staffed by employees with a background in commodities trading instead of power plant operations.

"There was some lack of knowledge and understanding about the Taum Sauk plant," he said. "It was my obligation to clarify what the constraints on the plant were."

The commission heard testimony last week from an Ameren engineer who said the company's energy trading unit repeatedly denied his requests to shut down the plant for critical repairs just months before it collapsed in December 2005.

The resulting flood devastated Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park and injured a family of five.

The Environmental Protection Agency has begun a criminal investigation into Ameren's conduct at the reservoir before the collapse. Attorney General Jay Nixon said he will not file criminal charges in the case, though he is suing the utility company.

PSC Commissioner Steve Gaw said the state utility regulator is investigating the accident to see if it reveals any companywide safety problems at Ameren.

Fitzgerald said when he assumed control of the Taum Sauk plant in 1999, it was used as an emergency backup facility. But he said power generation increased significantly before he left the plant in 2002 to take a job at Ameren headquarters. Production increased because Ameren had more customers; deregulation allowed more sales on the open market; and the reservoir became more efficient at producing energy, Fitzgerald said.