JEFFERSON CITY -- The end may at last be in sight for the 17-month-long wrangle over environmental destruction in southeastern Missouri caused by a breached hydroelectric dam.

Reports this week indicate that Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon and Department of Natural Resources Director Doyle Childers might be ready to bury the hatchet and cooperate on a settlement with Ameren Corp.

The pair have been feuding since January 2006, when Democrat Nixon filed a separate lawsuit against the utility for the Taum Sauk dam collapse. Republican Childers later "fired" Nixon as DNR's advocate in its suit against Ameren over campaign donations.

The two have recently been wrangling over which government office has the right to pursue a financial settlement with the company.

Childers said he was pleased with the contents of a letter Nixon recently sent Ameren outlining "essential elements" for settling a civil suit. "I feel very optimistic we ought to be able to get something moving," he told the AP.

Prospects for cooperation between the two state officials on the Taum Sauk settlement looked bleak even as little as a week ago. Childers, touting the DNR's $115 million settlement offer, reamed Nixon for his obstructiveness on the issue.

In a curbside news conference outside Ameren headquarters last Wednesday, Childers denounced Ameren's counter-offer that included a $10 million "donation" to Nixon, LegalNewsLine reported. Nixon later referred to the incident as "a circus" and "a traveling roadshow."

But Nixon's letter seems to have changed all that. Childers now tells the AP it's "highly likely" he will contact Nixon in hopes of creating a unified settlement proposal. Nixon would not comment, saying the issue is "too important for politics".

Judging by the St. Louis-based utility's response to Nixon's letter, however, Nixon and Childers should get a receptive hearing if they decide to collaborate on a settlement based around the "essential elements."

"There is sufficient common ground in these offers for all parties to meet to reach a comprehensive settlement and complete the [environmental] restoration work," Ameren spokeswoman Susan Gallagher told the AP.

Childers recently praised Ameren's announcement that a popular state park near Taum Sauk would be open for day use this summer, MissouriNet reports. The DNR had earlier doubted it would be ready this year.