Koster
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (Legal Newsline) - Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster announced on Tuesday that he has filed a lawsuit against two developers who allegedly polluted Table Rock Lake.
James Shirato, owner of Indian Ridge Resort Inc., and Donald Snider, managing member of North Shore Investments LLC, allegedly planned to construct a $1.6 billion, 850-acre development that would be close to Branson West, less than a mile upstream of Table Rock Lake.
Dubbed Indian Ridge Resort, the development was designed to include condominiums, an eight-story hotel, hundreds of homes, a water park, a golf course, a conference center, retail shopping and restaurants.
Although the groundbreaking was held in 2005, no work has been done at the site since August 2008 due to the developers' bank failing.
Koster's lawsuit alleges that the two men violated the state's Clean Water Law, after each rainfall, sediment washes from the cleared areas into erosion channels and then into Table Rock Lake.
"Every developer in our state is aware of the obligation to ensure the environmental integrity of their development sites," Koster said. "This office will aggressively pursue any developers who show disregard for our environmental laws."
Koster is seeking a court order requiring the defendants to comply with the Clean Water Law.
He also is asking the court to assess a civil penalty not to exceed $10,000 per day for each violation and wants them to pay for their damage to Table Rock Lake, as well as all costs associated with the litigation.