SEVERE WINTER STORM PELTS AREA - Eastern Band of Cherokee

EWS ka-no-he-da4 cherokee one feather THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2010Done Deal!67-Year Stalemate endson North Shore RoadBRYSON CITY – The federal governmenthas agreed to make a payment of $52million to Swain County to settle thedecades-long dispute over the North ShoreRoad. The federal government’s offer fullymeets the amount requested by SwainCounty leaders and suggested in the Departmentof Interior’s Draft EnvironmentalImpact Statement for the North ShoreRoad.“This settlement will bring muchneededresources to Swain County fordecades to come,” Congressman HeathShuler (D-NC) said. “The interest onthese funds alone will greatly increaseSwain’s annual budget and will help thecommissioners in their efforts to createjobs, invest in Swain County schools, andimprove the county’s infrastructure.”“It has been evident for years thatthe North Shore Road would never be constructed,”Rep. Shuler continued. “Thissettlement, once finalized, will allow allthe citizens of Swain County, regardless oftheir 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 authorizedfor transfer to Swain County, with anadditional $8.8 million to be transferredafter the signing of the agreement. ThePresident's 2011 budget outlines the firstof ten annual disbursements to SwainCounty that will pay the remainder of thesettlement, $39.2 million. The agreementalso stipulates that money provided toSwain County will be deposited in a speciallyprotected trust account with theNorth Carolina State Treasurer, who willdisperse annual interest payments to theCounty.The Swain County Board ofCommissioners will hold a vote on Friday,Feb. 5 on whether to accept the settlementoffer. As acceptance is likely, a signingceremony is being planned for the TownSquare in Bryson City at 11:30am on Saturday,Feb. 6 to officially finalize theagreement. The backup location in case ofbad weather is the Fine Arts Center atSwain County High School, 1415 FontanaRoad. U.S. Secretary of the Interior KenBACKGROUND: As this agreementwould exnguish a previous agreementsigned in 1943 that required the Departmentof the Interior to build theNorth Shore Road, all signatories to the1943 agreement would need to sign thenew agreement. In addion to SwainCounty, the three other pares to the1943 agreement are the U.S. Departmentof Interior, the State of North Carolina,and the Tennessee ValleyAuthority (TVA). The new agreementacknowledges that the State of NorthCarolina and TVA have each fulfilledtheir obligaons under the 1943 agreement.Neither party is obligated to addionalacon in the new agreement.As such, they are expected to sign thenew agreement as well.Salazar will be in attendance, as will CongressmanHeath Shuler. Governor BevPerdue and a representative of the TennesseeValley Authority have also been invited.“With the help of CongressmanShuler, the commitment of the Obama Administration,and the hard work of manypeople, we are closer than ever to resolvingthe long-standing dispute over theNorth Shore Road in Swain County, NorthCarolina,” said Salazar. “I look forward totraveling to North Carolina this weekendfor what I expect will be a great - and longoverdue - celebration.”Dale Ditmanson, Superintendentof the Great Smokey Mountain NationalPark, has stated the Park Service will continueto provide transportation to annualcemetery "decoration days" and tell theirstories through exhibits and programs.“This settlement would not havehappened without Representative Shuler’sleadership,” said Leonard Winchester,Chair of Citizens for the Economic Futureof Swain County. “We greatly appreciatehis hard work to bring this matter to closurein a way that will benefit all the citizensof Swain County forever,Thecompletion of this agreement will be oneof the most significant events in the historyof Swain County and certainly the mostpositive.”Sources: Rep. Shuler’s Office, InteriorDept.2/4One Feather deadlineTuesday at 12noon