North Shore Road points

Handout from The North Shore Road Workshops

A. Points to be made.

• Irreversible damage to the natural environment. Numerous finger ridges

descend from the state line ridge to Fontana Lake. Any road will cut through each of them at right angles. This will require massive cuts through each ridge, and massive fills in between. The soil and rock are unstable and the scars will be self-enlarging. Annual maintenance will be high. The scars would permanently change the natural topography.

• Pyrite Rock is damaging when disturbed. The rocks in the North Shore area contain pyrite (Fe2 SO4). When the rock is disturbed, rainwater and seepage (H2 O) flow across and through the broken rock. A chemical reaction occurs, which produces sulfuric acid (H2 SO4) and iron oxide (Fe2 O3). The sulfuric acid destroys every living thing (plant and animal) in the watercourses it enters. Iron oxide is the typical ugly and unnatural orange-yellow run-off often associated with abandoned mines, which coats all rocks and soil it reaches.

• This road will disrupt wildlife. Roads become barriers for animals, both large

(bears) and small (salamanders). It would create an opening in closed canopy forest, reducing habitat available for migratory birds who avoid edges and rely on interior forest, and increasing habitat of lovers of edges, such as cowbirds and crows.

• This road would disrupt plant habitat. Plant biozones depend on interaction of

species. A road would interrupt that and tend to reduce the strip between the lake and the road to a botanically poor area. Invasive species would be introduced along the road corridor, upsetting the rich balance of natural species.

• A road would destroy the tranquility and solitude of the large area of the

Smokies. A road would introduce greater numbers of people into a wild part of the park. Vehicle noises, sights and odors would intrude. The recreation experience of a wild and apparently boundless forest would be lost.

• The economic benefit to the area would be heavily weighted by a cash

settlement with Swain County. The income from investment of the cash would far exceed any income the county could receive from tourist spending. That is because the county only receives approximately two percentage points of the sales tax, and it would require the sale of millions and million of hamburgers (and other goods and services) to equal the interest on a cash settlement.

• A reasonable and prudent alternative exists. The purpose of the north shore

road was to provide a route of travel from Bryson City to Deals Gap on the Tennessee line, and thence to Maryville, TN. Since 1943 N.C. Highway 28 has been constructed on the south side of Fontana Lake. N.C. 28 now provides the contemplated link. Moreover, US 74 is four-laned from Bryson City to Almond, and NC 28 is four-laned from Almond to Stecoah. Thus, a superhighway covers two-thirds of the distance to Fontana, and the remainder is built to modern, high-speed specifications. NC 28 serves all the transportation needs that were to be served by the North Shore Road. Scenic overlooks along its route give views of the unscarred and unbroken natural landscape of a vast expanse of the Smokies.

• Since 1943 a number of environmental laws have been enacted which make

construction of the North Shore Road an impossibility. The acid from disturbed pyritic rock, petroleum based run-off, and storm water run-off cannot pass the test of the Clean Water Act. The Department of Transportation Act forbids roads in Parks unless there is NO prudent and feasible alternative. The Endangered Species Act will apply to all species discovered in the study. The Migratory Bird Treaty requires protection of neo-tropical migratory birds.

B. Arguments that may be made by pro-road advocates and Answers to them .

• A promise is a Promise.

• The promise in this case was made to the four parties who signed the 1943 Agreement. Those parties were TVA, The Department of the Interior, The State of North Carolina, and Swain County. There are no other parties. Those same parties can change their contract to provide for a cash settlement.

• The 1943 Agreement is not absolute. It is contingent on appropriation by Congress of funds to construct the road. The Agreement specifically states:

“failure on the part of Congress for any reason to make such appropriations shall not constitute a breach or violation of this Agreement.”

• We were promised the road. The “WE” being in this instance the pro-road advocates.

• The road advocates went to Federal Court in 1983 claiming they had a right to enforce the 1943 Agreement. The U.S. District Court held they had no rights different from any other citizen, and dismissed their action. That decision was appealed to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, which affirmed it. On Petition, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to accept an appeal to it, leaving the lower court decisions standing. That ends all claims of special rights.

• We were promised cemetery access by road.

• Cemetery access is not mentioned in the 1943 Agreement.

• A road that went past each cemetery would be as crooked as a corkscrew, and impossible to build.

• Promises made by government agents (which we doubt can be substantiated) are not binding on the United States unless the agents were specifically authorized to make the promises. Just this summer, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a similar appeal involving promises acknowledged to have been made by military recruiters of free lifetime medical care, effectually denying claims based on them.

• These same claims were made in the 1983 lawsuit and were denied by the Court. The law allows only one bite at the apple. These claims have been judicially settled, and no longer are viable.

• The road can be built cheaply by renovating the roadbed of Old N.C. 288.

• An analysis of the topo maps shows approximately 75 percent of the old road is under water.

• The old road was built in the 1920’s to standards of that day, and it is not satisfactory for modern vehicles. It would have to be rebuilt in its entirety to be useable today.

• The 1943 Agreement calls for a road not less than 20 feet wide with a

dustless surface. A road cannot now be built to less than that standard, unless the pro-road advocates also want the agreement to be amended.

• The lands north of Fontana Lake are not “roadless.”

• The portion of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park north of Fontana Lake is the largest roadless tract of mountain land in the East. Like nearly all parts of the Park, these lands were once settled and inhabited. The old roads, driveways, field roads, trails and passageways that connected them were abandoned in 1943. They have not been used since then, except for several miles of old railroad grade which are kept open for administrative purposes. With this exception, the old roads have grown up in trees and bushes, and are not useable. They no longer are roads by any definition of that word.

• The Swain County Commissioners will squander any money settlement.

The Swain County Commissioners propose that any settlement be held in trust for the County, and that they be empowered to spend only the interest. The principal, or parts of the principal could only be spent on vote of two-thirds of the registered voters of the County. The Commissioners have asked that these restrictions be written into any Act of Congress approving a cash settlement.

• NPS has neglected its mandate to interpret the cultural and historical features

of the North Shore area.

The mandate is general, and does not require a breakdown into miniscule

parts. It is not necessary to expend hundreds of millions of dollars to transport visitors to an interpretative location deep in the park. A better place for an interpretive site would be at a Park entrance, offering the information to all, including those who do not choose to travel further. One possible site already exists at the Swain County Museum, in the old courthouse.

Courtesy of Ted Snyder