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Land Use:
Swain Settlement Fund
Our Position: support
Bill Number: S1646
Sponsor: John Snow (D- 50th District)
Legislative Session: 2008
This bill establishes a recieving fund for federal settlement dollars promised to Swain County in lieu of building North Shore Road.
Status
Signed by Governor into law on 6/25/08
Action Needed
Contact your legislator regarding this issue.
Contact
Sierra Club Stanback Intern Serra Aktan at (919) 833-8467 for more information.
Background
The North Carolina Sierra Club applauds the National Park Services' decision to give a cash settlement to Swain County insead of building North Shore Road- a project that would pave 34 miles of cement in the Great Smoky Mountains. The controversy over the 38 mile road through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park began in 1943 with a limited agreement to replace NC 288, which had been flooded to build Tennessee Valley Authority's Fontana Dam. Seven miles were completed in the 1960's but then abandoned because of environmental and engineering problems, leading to the nickname "the road to nowhere." The plan to replace NC 288 was contingent on federal appropriations. Over the next 40 years, the land intended for construction received proposals for wilderness designation several times, but those efforts were successfully blocked by U.S. Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC). In late 2007 Congress passed an omnibus Appropriations bill, thus beginning the process leading to a monetary settlement between the National Park Service and Swain County.
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