The Corps is still blowing Smoke !! <'TK><

[tkwalker]

No Matter what they say the feds are going to be hard pressed to enforce anything ... We are still fighting this in Washington ... Here is a Email from Doug Markham .... <'TK><

NASHVILLE, TENN. — State and federal agencies are at odds as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers presses ahead with a ban on fishing from boats both above and below Cumberland River watershed dams.

The Corps office in Nashville announced Tuesday it was banning fishing close to the dams as a safety matter. The announcement also said the federal agency was asking Tennessee and Kentucky wildlife agencies to enforce the ban on waterborne fishing in restricted areas.

But Ed Carter, executive director of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, was quick to say TWRA would not enforce the restriction. The agency’s officers enforce regulations on waterways in the state.

“If there is a lot of water pouring through the spill gates, we can understand restrictions on hazardous days,” Carter said. “Otherwise, our boating accident reports indicate anglers have a good safety record below dams and we do not see a rational reason to prevent them from fishing there.”

Kentucky wildlife officials are taking a similar approach.

Ron Brooks, the fisheries division director for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Services, said Wednesday that his agency doesn’t have enough officers to routinely enforce a federal decision.

“The boating restrictions were set by the Corps, and therefore it is their responsibility to enforce them,” Brooks said.

Brooks also said the state remained open to working with the federal agency on an agreement that would allow fishing below the dams when water conditions for fishing were tenable.

TWRA had asked the Corps to reconsider the blanket prohibition, which applies to 10 dams on the Cumberland and its tributaries in Tennessee and Kentucky. They include Barkley Dam, Center Hill Dam, Cheatham Dam, Cordell Hull Dam, Dale Hollow Dam, J. Percy Priest Dam, Laurel River Dam, Martins Ford Dam, Old Hickory Dam and Wolf Creek Dam.

Fishing from the shore or casting into the restricted area from boats outside the buoy line would still be allowed as per the COE ...

[lupanfreitag]

No enforcement is the best news I have heard since this whole debacle started. I am will most of you- we must continue to fight. I recommend that as many of you as possible write a letter and mail it snail mail to Lamar Alexander in Washington. Not an Email but a typed, signed letter. Email is easy. A mailed letter takes time, money and effort. It will show them we are motivated and will vote/contribute.

Keep the fight up. For some it seems to be fatalistic that the end is coming but it doesn't have to. The Corps and Alexander- in the end they are all politicians. If they think their funding/popularity is in trouble, they will turn a corner.

Fight. TN's finest resources are its people and its lands/waters. Fight for TN, fight for us.