Utility looks to eliminate foam on lake

LAKE OZARK, Mo. -- AmerenUE has proposed regulations to eliminate use of certain types of foam flotation material in boat docks at the Lake of the Ozarks in an attempt to curb a pollution problem on the lake's shores.

In a recent cleanup on the shores, foam chunks made up at least 90 percent of the 170 tons of trash collected.

The regulations would give dock owners until December 2008 to replace any unapproved materials, said Mike Cleary, spokesman for the St. Louis-based energy company, which owns the lake. AmerenUE initially banned the nonencapsulated -- not enclosed in an outer shell -- foam in 1995, but allowed existing installations to keep it if they were in good condition.

Besides being unsightly, the foam debris can be dangerous if boaters hit it.

"I think people at the lake pretty much know that something has to be done," Cleary said. "It gets frustrating when year after year you continue to remove foam from the shoreline, so it's going to take an actual deadline to get rid of this stuff."

The regulations are part of a larger shoreline management plan the company will submit in 2006 when it renews its 30-year license with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to operate Bagnell Dam and the Osage Power Plant, Cleary said.

For the past several years, docks on Table Rock Lake have been required to use foam that is encapsulated. Older docks have been permitted to keep the nonencapsulated foam until it needs repair or replacement, said U.S. Army Corps of Engineers lake manager Marilyn Jones.

Marinas and resorts are not covered under the restrictions but are moving to encapsulated foam because it lasts longer and needs fewer repairs, Jones said.

However, the encapsulated foam is also substantially more expensive for dock owners. It would cost three times as much to use the new foam than old foam, said Tim Reynolds, owner of Ozark Village Docks and chairman of the dock owners' association. Replacing the foam in a two-well dock with a swimming platform costs about $5,000.

Plus, the old foam costs $18.75 per cubic yard to dispose, Reynolds said. The disposal used to cost $3 per cubic yard, but the materials have been classified as industrial waste by the Department of Natural Resources.

Jerry Jansma, owner of the 67-slip Yacht Haven Marina, said it cost about $250,000 to have those docks refoamed in 1995 and the docks still need constant repairs as the foam deteriorates.

Jansma said he supports the regulations, as long as they are enforced on all docks, large and small.

"You take a boat ride now on this lake, you see so many docks that are half-sunk and dilapidated," Jansma said. "(AmerenUE) says they're going to do something, but will they just go after the big guys because they know where we are?"

The company plans to hold a public hearing on the regulations this fall.