Whitfield and Local Leaders Meet With Corps to Discuss New Dam Regulations

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Kentucky's 1st District Congressman Ed Whitfield and several western Kentucky judge executives are taking their complaints about changes to Army Corps of Engineers regulations to the top of the chain of command tomorrow. The corps has reinterpreted an existing rule to prohibit recreational activity, including fishing, within several hundred feet on either side of the dams on the Cumberland river.

Local politicians say those changes will mean millions of dollars in lost tourism revenue for the counties around the dams. The Corps’ Deputy Commanding General for Civil and Emergency Affairs Michael Walsh meets with Whitfield and local leaders in Washington tomorrow to discuss alternate options for fishing around the area’s dams. In a recent interview with WKMS Whitfield said the danger posed by fishing near the dam does not outweigh the tourism benefits to the local communities, and he hopes the Corps will continue to allow fishing near the dams.