WASHINGTON, D.C.- On Friday, U.S. Senator Rand Paul sent a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to voice his opposition to their plan to require municipal and industrial users of Lake Cumberland to pay for water supply from Lake Cumberland and yearly operation and maintenance costs of the dam and lake. In the letter, he also requested USACE not consider these water supply users to be trespassers for continuing to withdraw water from the lake in the absence of water supply storage agreements.
Additionally, he asked that the Corps delay any action furthering this plan until the administration has nominated and the Senate has confirmed a new Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works), so that he or she may have a chance to consider, revise, or suspend any such plan.
Dr. Paul has previously introduced legislation to address this issue, and has met with local leaders many times to discuss potential solutions.
“I refuse to believe that a multi-million dollar tax increase on the backs of hard-working Kentuckians for continuing to access a natural resource they have long been using is the only solution, and strongly disagree with the Corps’ onerous plan,” said Dr. Paul. “I will continue working on behalf of the Lake Cumberland community on this issue, and I encourage Kentuckians to join me in filing comments to the Corps during the comment period, as we all work to prevent these outrageous fees.”
The comment period is open now through March 1st, 2017. Comments should be addressed to Mr. Chip Hall, and may be either emailed to CorpsLRNPlanningPublicCom@usace.army.mil or mailed to:
Department of the Army, Nashville District, Corps of Engineers
110 9th Avenue South, Room A-405
Nashville, TN 37203
You can view the letter HERE.