Tagged: Barkley Dam

The U.S. Senate passed a bill Wednesday to stop the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from restricting fishing access around Corps dams, specifically along the Cumberland River.

Sen. Mitch McConnell sponsored the bill.

The Corps of Engineers wants to install signage and a line of buoys separating fishermen from what they characterize “hazardous waters.” Legislators like McConnell felt the economic impact it would have on tourism outweighed any potential dangers.

Kentucky’s first district congressman Ed Whitfield demands that the Army Corps of Engineers consider solutions other than permanently closing areas around Cumberland River dams to fishing. Corps officials announced in December they would restrict access 700 feet downstream and 400 feet upstream of the dams because the area is dangerous.

Kentucky’s First District Congressman Ed Whitfield says the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers made no promises to change their decision to restrict access near Cumberland River dams, but they were willing to continue discussions. Whitfield and several other lawmakers met with Army Corps of Engineers officials yesterday about the planned restricted access.

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.