Published: February 27, 2007 08:20 am         

Fletcher, Rogers speak on lake

Governor is optimistic; Congressman focuses on efficiency

Somerset — With the weight of the Wolf Creek Dam crisis bearing down on Pulaski County, both Gov. Ernie Fletcher and Congressman Hal Rogers took the time to speak with the Commonwealth Journal about the situation Pulaski County faces in regards to the lowering of Lake Cumberland.

Appearing at the Lincoln Banquet Friday night, Fletcher made a point to assure the crowd that steps were being taken not only to ensure safety, but to maintain commercial viability for an economy heavily dependent upon the lake and tourist dollars. Fletcher sounded confident about the efforts being made to improve the situation — even upbeat.

“Let me assure (Pulaski Countians) that we’re going to do everything we can,” said Fletcher. “We’ll work together and we’ll get through this. In fact, I think it will give us an opportunity to make this a little bit stronger area, beautiful lake than it is.”

Fletcher reminded the Commonwealth Journal of the plans to put a state lodge on Burnside Island and improve the golf course there, making it an even more attractive destination for out-of-towners, even without a deeper lake.

“When (those projects) are completed, and the lake is secure with the dam being shored up, then I think it will have a very positive economic impact for down here,” said Fletcher.

The governor was even optimistic about the prospect of the lake being higher sooner rather than later, as a result, he said, of a conversation with Rogers.

“We hope that they don’t have to lower the water anymore — in fact, we feel like the dam is getting better every day,” said Fletcher. “Hopefully they can reassess the situation in September or October and maybe raise the water a little bit.”

Fletcher added that he wanted to send a “strong message” to the crowd at the Lincoln Banquet that the dam is “in good shape, even though they’ve got more work to do on it.” However, if it’s “out of the danger zone,” he said, everyone in the region will benefit.

Rogers has considerable experience in dealing with potentially catastrophic situations, having been the chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on Homeland Security. He talked about his drive to make sure everyone is out of harm’s way, and all the steps taken to make that a certainty.

“I started meeting with the Corps of Engineers many months ago, when they first began to talk about the problem, and I met with the Great Lakes General on and off down through the months, including last week,” said Rogers, “and I grilled (them) on the dam’s safety, ad infinitum.”

As he has always done for this area, Rogers secured money to help battle the problem — $54 million in the federal budget, and hopefully more to come for grant extensions and water intake situations in other cities.

But efficiency is just as critical as funding, and Rogers said he urged engineers to “speed up the process as much as they could ... I think we got (the projected repair timetable) down from seven years to five, and hopefully less.”

Rogers talked about even seriously proposing a new dam, but that would take 15 years supposedly to construct — “and this dam won’t last that long, so they have to fix it regardless,” he said. “We’ve got to make sure that this time, it’s for good, so I’m continuing to ride the (U.S. Corps of Engineers) and get the money they need to do what they’ve got to do.”

     

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