Washington, D.C. – After three years of tireless efforts by Representative Heath Shuler (D-Waynesville), the federal government has agreed to make a payment of $52 million to Swain County to settle the decades-long dispute over the North Shore Road.
The federal government’s offer fully meets to amount requested by Swain County leaders and suggested in the Department of Interior’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the North Shore Road.
“This settlement will bring much-needed resources to Swain County for decades to come,” Congressman Shuler said. “The interest on these funds alone will greatly increase Swain’s annual budget and will help the commissioners in their efforts to create jobs, invest in Swain County schools, and improve the county’s infrastructure.”
“It has been evident for years that the North Shore Road would never be constructed,” Shuler continued. “This settlement, once finalized, will allow all the citizens of Swain County, regardless of their position on the road’s construction, to join together for Swain County’s future.”
Of the $52 million total settlement, $4 million has already been authorized for transfer to Swain County, with an additional $8.8 million to be transferred after the signing of the agreement. The President's 2011 budget outlines the first of ten annual disbursements to Swain County that will pay the remainder of the settlement, $39.2 million. The agreement also stipulates that money provided to Swain County will be deposited in a specially protected trust account with the North Carolina State Treasurer, who will disperse annual interest payments to the County.
The Swain County Board of Commissioners will hold a vote on Friday on whether to accept the settlement offer. As acceptance is likely, a signing ceremony is being planned for 11:30am on Saturday, February 6th to officially finalize the agreement. U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar will be in attendance, as will Congressman Heath Shuler. Governor Bev Perdue and a representative of the Tennessee Valley Authority have also been invited.
“This settlement would not have happened without Representative Shuler’s leadership,” said Leonard Winchester, Chair of Citizens for the Economic Future of Swain County. “We greatly appreciate his hard work to bring this matter to closure in a way that will benefit all the citizens of Swain County forever. The completion of this agreement will be one of the most significant events in the history of Swain County and certainly the most positive.”
Dale Ditmanson, Superintendent of the Great Smokey Mountain National Park, has stated the Park Service will continue to provide transportation to annual cemetery "decoration days" and tell their stories through exhibits and programs.
What: | Signing of North Shore Road Settlement Agreement |
Who: | Rep. Heath Shuler, U. S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar; Swain County Commissioners; Governor Bev Perdue (invited); Senators Kay Hagan and Richard Burr (invited) |
When: | 11:30 AM Saturday, February 6th |
Where: | The Town Square Intersection of Main Street and Rector Street Bryson City, NC |
(Backup location in case of bad weather is the Fine Arts Center at Swain County High School, 1415 Fontana Road.)
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BACKGROUND: As this agreement would extinguish a previous agreement signed in 1943 that required the Department of the Interior to build the North Shore Road, all signatories to the 1943 agreement would need to sign the new agreement. In addition to Swain County, the three other parties to the 1943 agreement are the U.S. Department of Interior, the State of North Carolina, and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). The new agreement acknowledges that the State of North Carolina and TVA have each fulfilled their obligations under the 1943 agreement. Neither party is obligated to additional action in the new agreement. As such, they are expected to sign the new agreement as well.
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