In 1996, a federal safety policy was established to prevent safety hazards for fishermen below dams.

Nearly 20 years later, the Army Corps of Engineers, Nashville District, is proposing to follow through with the policy, adding barrier walls below ten dams in Kentucky and Tennessee.

Wolf Creek Dam on the Cumberland River is one of the dams that could be affected.

“This dam has been built since 1953, and people have been fishing below the dam since that time. There have been a few but very few drownings,” says Russell County Judge-Executive Gary Robertson.

Legislators say there’s been 14 deaths because of the tailwaters since 1970 collectively on all ten rivers.

The project will cost them $2.6 million dollars, blocking boat access to the tailwaters.

“The Corps is pretty much overriding everyone’s argument that we ought to be given some type of public hearing process because they do operate on tax dollars,” Robertson says.

Robertson wrote a letter to several lawmakers saying the public needed to be heard.

Congressman Ed Whitfield, Senators Rand Paul, Mitch McConnell, and Tennessee’s Lamar Alexander responded with the Freedom to Fish Act opposing the Corps’ plan.

The bill must be passed before June when the construction is expected to start.

Local fishermen say the tailwaters of the Cumberland River provides some of the best fishing in the state of Kentucky, which has Russell County officials worried about the future of tourism.

“I’m afraid it’s going to affect it greatly here in Russell County because the lake and all the river fishing is very popular,” Robertson said.

“We have fishermen come from central Kentucky every weekend, we have people come in from Louisville and Lexington, and other counties north of here to come and fish below the dam and they have proposed to put this barrier wall up.”

Robertson says the Cumberland River’s tailwaters are stocked with nearly 27 hundred fish per acre compared to Lake Cumberland’s nine fish per acre.

On Saturday, April 13, Congressman Whitfield and Senators Paul, McConnell and Alexander will hold a news conference at Wolf Creek Dam at 11 a.m. on the campground. The public is welcome to attend.

(The following is an opinion editorial from Congressman Ed Whitfield)

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With spring officially here, many Kentuckians will soon be spending more time doing the outdoor activities they love.

For those living along the Cumberland River, this will almost certainly include boating and fishing.

Any outdoor enthusiast can tell you that for the best fishing around, you head to the waters immediately upstream and downstream of the locks and dams. These areas, commonly known as tailwaters, have some of the best fishing in the river.

Unfortunately, the United States Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) Nashville District has decided to take away our God-given resources by prohibiting access to these tailwaters.

They are doing this by re-instituting a policy that was written in 1996 that allowed access for fishing in these waters. Under this newfound interpretation, the Nashville District of the Corps will establish a 24-hour permanent restriction with guards prohibiting all waterborne access.

This is troubling news, especially during these tough economic times when many families are looking to stretch their hard-earned money a little bit further by forgoing vacations and doing activities closer to home.

It is also troubling news for fishermen and surrounding businesses who rely on the economic activity created by fishing and recreation in the region.

Installing these barricades will cost taxpayers $3 million at a time when our nation faces $16 trillion in debt. Instead of spending millions of dollars ignoring the enormous public opposition to this plan, USACE should instead consider using the money to address our local infrastructure needs such as spending the money on infrastructure maintenance. In fact, we’ve been told that the Corps intends to forgo maintenance in order to install these barricades, despite there being no evidence of safety for this action.

I have tried working with the Corps in good faith to reach a compromise. I’ve attended public meetings; participated in numerous conference calls with Corps officials and county judges; and have worked with my fellow Congressmen and our counterparts in the Senate.

All of this has been for naught as it has become apparent that the Corps and their so-called public meetings have been nothing more than a means to placate the public. Thousands of fishermen and recreational enthusiasts have petitioned the Corps to offer solutions such as conditional closing of the tailwaters, but this has been to no avail. I find this disregard of public opinion by the Corps’ Nashville District to be downright disgraceful.

Unlike the Nashville District of the Corps, I believe we must fight for the interest of Kentuckians. That is why I have introduced the Freedom to Fish Act, which prevents the Corps from installing permanent blockades along the Cumberland River.

I did this as a last resort, and I want to assure the fishing enthusiasts around Kentucky that I will do everything in my power to ensure the Freedom to Fish Act is signed into law. Unfortunately, the Corps is moving faster than ever to put the barricades up as a means to circumvent the democratic process.

That is why I need your help to show support for our efforts by calling the Nashville District of the Corps at 615-736-7161 and telling them to stop this intrusive assault on our Commonwealth’s fishermen.

It is time for the Army Corps of Engineers to start prioritizing tasks that serve the well-being of the nation instead of attacking one of our favorite pastimes-fishing.