The NPS should support a cash settlement to Swain County as compensation for not building the North shore Road…The NPS has the opportunity to ride the overwhelming tide of public opinion by settling this issue and refusing to build the road. This is a chance for the agency to regain the credibility it lost when it refused to recommend the environmentally preferred alternative as its agency recommended alternative. It is time to stiffen your spine, regain your credibility, act to preserve the park loved by so many Americans, and settle up!

I believe the original purpose and need for the road are no longer relevant. Given the local government’s willingness to accept payment in lieu of the road speaks volumes about the current need to complete the road.

The NPS (Dept. of Interior) should do what it should have done several years ago. That is convene a four-party meeting of representatives of the Dept. of Interior, TVA, State of NC, and Swain County, and agree on a substitute performance for the proposed North Shore Road by agreeing to pay Swain County $52 million dollars, with an appropriate increase from the date that the $52 million was determined by a public accounting firm to be a just settlement, for the obligation to Swain County.

In all fairness to the elderly people displaced by the war powers act, the acceptance of any monetary settlement should have approximately 50% set aside for medical expenses of the elderly refugees who lost almost everything by being forced out.

If there should be a cash settlement, it is my opinion that, to maintain those funds, approximately three-fourths of all the interest that money provided would need to go back into the fund, in order to prevent inflation, depleting the purchasing power or spending power of that money. And with that kind of money sitting in the bank somewhere, as I understand it would be invested in some way or another, I don’t believe the county would be eligible for grant monies in the future. Also, in my opinion, the loss of grant dollars would outweigh any interest that could ever be realized.

The Environmentally Preferred Alternative should be the preferred alternative. However, Swain County is an economically depressed area and should be compensated. It is my understanding that the county commissioners are eager to use the money to improve Bryson City's infrastructure which would enhance economic development in the area.

In my opinion the plans to build the North Shore Road should be abandoned and the folks of Swain County be compensated for their interest.

I am in favor of the cash settlement and I am willing to donate money to a fund set-up for that reason.

After the first round of comments, 88 percent of the comments the Park Service received were opposed to building the road, and since then, the Sierra Club and many of the other environmental groups and citizens who have gotten up to speak tonight have gathered thousands and thousands of comments in support of the monetary settlement. And in Bryson City last week, by my own count, nearly two-thirds of the speakers there supported the cash settlement.

I strongly support the monetary settlement with Swain County, NC, as the most rational and least damaging solution (for both the environment and the taxpayer). This settlement solution represents both the Environmentally Preferred Alternative and the Least Environmentally Damaging Practicable Alternative identified by the NPS in the DEIS. I see no merit, and much economic damage, in any road building north of Fontana.

Since the DEIS has not provided me with significant scientific data that show that adverse environmental damage can be avoided I suggest you scrap the road. Give Swain County a fair and honest settlement package as requested by their Commissioners.

I camp, fish, hike in the Smokies, with the road in place it will let the hunters in and the folks who dislike the federal government into this area to do more damage in the park. They probably set fires to the forest? They have killed wildlife on both sides of the Smokies!

Go to the courts and find an alternative method to resolve your obligations.

I never cease to be amazed by the workings of our government and its entrenched bureaucracy. Please use a little common sense and just pay the $52 million to Swain County and forget the North Shore Road.

The Park Service states that the cost of construction will be at least $590 million. That figure is equivalent to the annual budget short-fall of the entire national park system. The monetary settlement protects the park, immediately benefits the people of Swain County and saves U.S. taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. The $52 million settlement for Swain County invested at 5% would immediately provide $2.6 million per year for the county and have no adverse environmental impacts. On the other hand, after 15 years of road construction and squandering at least $590 million tax dollars, the park service says there will be only 223 new jobs.

The most common argument for building the road is to keep a promise made long ago. Circumstances have changed. Throwing away millions of taxpayer dollars to build a road that no longer serves a need would be further compounding a mistake made years ago, it would not in any way help the federal government “save face.” It would be more like a pie in the face, again. Of all solutions, the cash settlement makes the most sense financially, environmentally, and ethically. An EIS with more science and less politics would indicate this.

Your DEIS on the North Shore Road in the GSMNP avoided stating an overall Preferred Alternative even though this was the whole point of this in-depth study of alternatives. The DEIS does declare the Environmentally Preferred Alternative is the monetary settlement with Swain County, North Carolina. That is consistent with the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) standard that the environmentally preferred alternative is ordinarily “the alternative that causes the least damage to the biological and physical environment” and that “best protects, preserves, and enhances historic, cultural, and natural resources.

The Monetary Settlement alternative described in the DEIS is an inexpensive and common sense way to settle this issue.

A financial settlement was agreed to but the action failed to pass the Senate thanks to Mr. Helms.

I support the taxpayers of Swain County. I presided over four budgets of Swain County during the years late 1990 through 1994, and I know firsthand how hard it is to set budgets and spend taxpayers’ money. It seems there is never enough taxpayer money to meet all the statutory requirements and perceived needs of the county. State law prescribes how county tax monies are to be spent and will also dictate how $52 million will be spent, if this settlement does come about.

Our Federal Government cannot continue its prodigious deficit spending. We should not have any doubt that the cash settlement is by far the best and least expensive solution to this matter.

The GSMNP is one of the jewels of our national park system and is home to a remarkable variety of natural and cultural treasures. It was created by the people and for the people, not for special interests and certainly not for projects that would potentially harm a pristine eco-system.

Lots has changed in the 60 years since the road was first discussed, and it would be very poor management of the GSMNP if those changes were not taken into account. When circumstances change and an old agreement no longer makes sense, the usual approach is to compensate the party who is not getting what they expected.

My position is that there should be no road through the park and that Swain County should receive some remuneration for its expenditures on the road that they had to pay for after it was underwater. It would particularly helpful if we had an intelligent land-use plan. That doesn’t seem feasible at the current time. But $52 million set aside for local use to meet the obligations, the necessities of county residents, sounds to me like a rational use of money.

It would satisfy the United States’ obligations under the 1943 agreement and would do so without impairing park resources. It’s the commonsense alternative and it is the only alternative available to a federal agency under applicable law.

There are many areas in the United States where one can drive, and few where one can experience roadlessness. To destroy the rare in order to gain the commonplace represents the same sort of reverse alchemy as turning gold into lead.

It is unconscionable from the standpoint of fairness to the people of Swain County. For decades the county has sought settlement funds. The time has come to honor the wishes of the majority of the people of Swain County and the elected officials of Swain County. The Park Service should select a commonsense alternative, respect Swain County and respect federal taxpayers and respect history.
I read today in the paper that the NPS has gotten $200 million stricken from their budget. …If you want the money, I’d say go for it now, the $53 million I’m talking about and I support that option, $53 million to the county. Go for it now before it’s gone, because it’s going.

Our county commissioners, in a vote of four to one, have indicated that the appropriate resolution to the 1943 agreement is a $52 million settlement. No one else anywhere has a moral obligation or the legal authority to speak for Swain County.

I do not want the road to be constructed and support giving Swain County $52 million. In addition, if I lived in a perfect world, I would tear down that god forsaken dam as well.

The win-win situation here is to put the allocated funds for the North Shore Road into fulfilling our promises for our children and not into completing the North Shore Road.
I am certain that you are aware that it would take all the parties to the 1943 agreement to make any changes to anything the NPS says regarding the DEIS, and the 1943 agreement, as to each element, must also be approved by the Tennessee Valley Authority, the state of North Carolina and Swain County. Swain County has adamantly said they reject all the alternatives except the $52 million settlement.

The outpouring of support from editorial boards, lawmakers and the public has been overwhelming. In the past just one month, six editorial boards have taken a position on the cash settlement in lieu of building a destructive road, including “The Charlotte Observer,” and “The Raleigh News & Observer,” decrying the, quote, “Fontana folly of a $590 million road project.” lawmakers, from Governor Easley in North Carolina, to Senator Lamar Alexander from Tennessee, have stated their support for the fiscally responsible monetary settlement. And many, many thousands of people have engaged in the democratic process to say we want to protect the Smokies for future generations. People from all over the nation have emailed and have stated support for the monetary settlement. And across the region, people have signed comment cards and written letters… I believe the people have spoken overwhelmingly in support of the monetary settlement.

Some of my engineering colleagues would prefer that I support the road as a full employment act for engineers and road builders, but my professional ethics require that I support the alternative preferred by the only party to the 1943 agreement, which has not yet been satisfied, Swain County. I support the monetary settlement.

I do honestly trust in your refined judgment to accept this course of action (monetary settlement), which will more than adequately give a final close to this sixty-three year "adventure."

There is sufficient information in the DEIS to conclude that only the monetary settlement option would satisfy the parties to the original agreement, without permanent harm to the GSMNP.

The project would destroy the natural environment and the whole reason tourists travel to Swain Co. It's unfortunate that the government had to evict people to create Fontana Lake, but building a road to the remaining cemetery is just not cost-effective. The U.S. government has broken numerous promises over its long history, some justifiably, some not, so I don't see why this promise should be honored when it would benefit such a small group at such a high price. I support the proposed compromise that the government pay Swain Co. the original value of the road adjusted for inflation.

Please listen to the people that will be affected by your decisions and do the right thing. Don't let this be another time that government takes away the beautiful wilderness for no apparent reason.

I understand the people of Swain County have been made a promise and I have no problem with the monetary settlement. I say give the whole $500 million that it’s going to cost to build the road to the people of Swain County, if that’s what it takes. You know, the road is what I’m against, not the money. The money means nothing to me. My taxes are going to get taken out of my check one way or another. I’m not that concerned about that. But I am concerned about the road and I want to see that stopped, and I believe that the people of Swain County are due their compensation, and that’s just fine with me.

Perfectly viable, environmentally harmless, less expensive and legally fulfilling option is available, would be a betrayal of the highest order and the lowest kind.

Construction of this road would be counterproductive to the historic spirit in which the park was created, whereby a great treasure for all Americans was achieved by converting private lands for public purpose.

I am in favor of the monetary settlement with the local community as the amount of local traffic to the old settlements would be minor, but the impact on the roadless area of the Smokies would be tremendous. I favor the monetary settlement over doing nothing so that this matter would be ended once and for all and the promise would be mitigated.

Twenty-six years later we’re still holding hearings, making statements, writing reports and no solution. I would hope that this series of hearings will result in a final solution in the amount of $52 million to Swain County. In the 1990s, we, the Swain County Board of Commissioners, with the help of Senator Terry Sanford, were looking at a settlement of $16 million. This action was blocked in the Senate, and now here in 2006, we’re talking about five different options…I feel that a cash settlement in the amount of $52 million to Swain County is justified.
The idea of building a road seems like an abomination to me. So little to be gained for so few. Please take the monetary buy-out alternative. This way, something irreplaceable will be preserved.

As a North Carolina resident I take special pride in the preservation of this Park, and gratitude to those whose foresight had provided and, thus far, protected it from becoming what the areas adjacent to it are, increasingly residential and commercial blight.

How could the majority of Americans possibly benefit from the destruction of one of the largest “unroaded” areas in the eastern US? Pay the people of Swain County, NC the $52 million and make this nightmare go away. The economic benefit of the road being built versus the cost of the road indicates it would be senseless to destroy the most beautiful part of the Park. The interest income received from the $52 million settlement to Swain County, NC would be of far greater economic impact than building the road. Why risk destroying the eco-system in that area of the Park, rendering it so unattractive, that no one would visit it anyway? Then we really would have a “road to nowhere” or more aptly, the “road to Hell.” Don’t build the road, pay the people of Swain County, NC $52 million, and let the majority of Americans continue to enjoy the Park for hundreds of years. That is what the NPS was established for.

Give the people in Bryson City area a deadline to accept the settlement and withdraw it if they don't.

Politics, pollution, terrorism, and all the other evils alike, I believe this world can survive, until we develop all our land and forests. I thought National Parks were one of the few places that would always be there long after the current generation is gone. Pay them off. We could all use the money instead of another road.

The Park Service and all other agencies involved in the EIS process should defer to local government and make the $52 million cash payout to end the boondoggle, and the threat to the Park once and for all. If there were a way to put a “Your tax dollars at work” endorsement on a settlement check to the county, instead of on a bunch of construction signs for a road that makes no common sense, I’d feel a lot better about April 15th this year.

As a frequent visitor to the GSMNP, I urge the Park Service to make no decision that would allow continued encroachment on the Park as it exists today. The cash settlement is, in my opinion, the only equitable option to any construction or continuation of the road. Make no decision that would allow development beyond or on the currently existing road.

It is imperative to take advantage of the willingness of Swain County to settle this dispute for such a reasonable sum of money.

I promise the people of Bryson and Swain County, that if this road is built, I will never again spend money in their town.

If the concept of "public servants" still has any breath of life in it, you will reject any proposal to build this boondoggle, pay the $52 million to Swain County and move on to other, more product and cost effective endeavors.
Swain County wants to stay quiet. Its officials have expressed their preference for monetary compensation. Please do not let this fight fall in favor of a few rich contractors.

If, as some have suggested, compensation to a county for a loss is the true issue, why not offer it? It surely would be cheaper than to build and maintain a road, and it would be a whole lot less ugly.

Justify our steadfast respect for the Park Service by doing the right thing, and declaring this road dead once and for all. This marvelous DEIS you've come up with gives you all the documentation you need to justify this most appropriate exercise of your administrative discretion.

The DEIS clearly and repeatedly discloses multiple and significant adverse impacts that would result from any of the road building alternatives. Since both the Environmentally Preferred Alternative as well as the Least Environmentally Damaging Practical Alternative identified in the DEIS is the Monetary Settlement Alternative, it would seem incumbent on responsible managers in all agencies and government entities to select this alternative for implementation.

I prefer the cash settlement option…like the Tellico-Robbinsville road, it would no doubt run far over budget and uncover acidic shale, causing fish kills.

The Swain County Commission, NC Governor Mike Easley, and TN Senators Lamar Alexander and Bill Frist are among those favoring this alternative.

My preference: a significant cash settlement (at least $50 million) to Swain County, with no strings attached (i.e., let them decide what to do with it). Then, if they wish to build some new attraction in their county to draw tourists and the hypothetical economic impact of their visits, then they can choose to do so. They can immediately receive the benefits of the settlement, which is an additional rationale for the settlement.

The North Shore Road Project should be shelved and a monetary settlement made. While I realize that a monetary settlement will be difficult under this administration which is bankrupting the economy and is steadfastly undermining environmental protections based upon science in favor of kowtowing to the corporate interests it prostitutes the body of the public to, I urge you to protect the public's interest in their national parks by seeking this settlement.
I am aware of the economic pressures on rural areas;…I'm also aware of the strains on wildlife and natural resources such as water because of the development I've seen even there…And that's why I'm writing in support of a financial pay-out for Swain County rather than despoiling the area with the proposed North Shore Road.

I strongly support the “Environmentally Preferred Alternative,” a monetary settlement with Swain County, North Carolina, as the most appropriate solution to the question about the proper use of the public land on the south side of GSMNP. As a biologist who is very familiar with the rich and unique species diversity of this part of the Park, I realize that the other alternatives will deprive ourselves and future generations of one of the last remaining havens for that diversity in the eastern United States. The settlement will not only be a welcome investment for the future of Swain County, but also will protect for all time this special public resource.
The Draft EIS explicitly states that this is the “environmentally preferred alternative" and is the "least environmentally damaging practicable alternative.” The settlement with Swain County meets the needs and purposes of the study.

I am unalterably opposed to any construction beyond the current end of Lake View Road, including any road north of Fontana Reservoir; and I strongly urge a monetary settlement for Swain County. My view is supported by most of the findings of the DEIS.

The DEIS correctly states that the No Action and $52 M payout are the best choices from an environmental standpoint.

After reviewing the DEIS, I am strongly in favor of the Monetary Settlement Alternative as outlined in Section 2-8. The wilderness potential of the North Shore Road Corridor is great, and therefore the least environmentally damaging practical alternative is preferred and superior in my opinion. As a backpacker, fisherman, and wilderness lover, I urge you to choose the LEDPA.

I understand the competing needs for development and improvement of the infrastructure in those counties, and would hope that funds (monetary settlement) might be made available to address those needs.