The Lowdown on Lake Cumberland

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A sharp-eyed observer spotted this boat sitting on muddy land near Pulaski County Park. The water level of Lake Cumberland is currently being lowered to ease pressure on Wolf Creek Dam and is expected to reach 680 feet above sea level on Monday, leading to sights like the one above becoming more likely to be seen around the lake. Photo by Kathy Snell
Craig Shoe, resource manager for Lake Cumberland, tells the Somerset Kiwanis Club that the Corps is meeting Monday with contractors about extending boat ramps into the water. The level of the lake has been lowered because of seepage problems at Wolf Creek Dam. Bill Mardis photo

February 9, 2007

Plans underway to extend some boat ramps

By BILL MARDIS Editor Emeritus The Commonwealth Journal Fri Feb 09, 2007, 08:47 AM EST

The resource manager for Lake Cumberland said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is meeting Monday with contractors about extending boat-launching ramps into the water.

Craig Shoe, speaking to a luncheon meeting of the Somerset Kiwanis Club, remarked: “I hope we’ve got work going in a week and a half or two weeks (on extending boat ramps).” He said the contractors will be told “If you can’t go to work soon, don’t bid.”

The ramps are out of the water because the lake level is scheduled to reach 680 feet above sea level, or 43 feet below the tree line, on Monday and remain at that level throughout this year. The water has been lowered to ease pressure on Wolf Creek Dam, classified by the Corps as a “high risk” of failure.

Shoe said only two of the 48 improved ramps on the lake are usable for boat launching. These are at Grider Hill and Jamestown marinas, he noted. An improve ramp is one with at least 10 parking spaces.

According to Shoe, the Corps now has money to improve accessibility to the lake. The Corps is authorized to extend ramps at 10 marinas and four Corps sites on the lake. Ramps owned by counties and the state, like the ramp at General Burnside Island State Park, are not included in the Corps’ improvement authority.

“Our biggest goal is to get ramps in the water,” said Shoe. However, despite the promised effort, Shoe estimated that the lake will have 35-40 percent less access this summer.

Shoe called “staggering” the impact Lake Cumberland has on the Cumberland River system.

“Fifty percent of the water that goes through Nashville in the summer comes from Lake Cumberland,” Shoe noted. He said keeping Lake Cumberland at a low level will impact operations at other dams on the Cumberland River.

Shoe detailed for the Kiwanians the condition of the 55-year-old dam that resulted in the decision to lower the lake and rehabilitate the earthen and concrete structure. He said technology in the 1930s and 1940s when Wolf Creek Dam was built was not what it is today. The dam was built on limestone rock with caves and crevices. This apparently is allowing water to seep through and beneath the structure.

Leaks, reportedly much more severe than now, were discovered in the dam during the late 1960s. A concrete diaphragm was extended into the dam and 25 feet into the bedrock. It solved the leaking problem for several years but pressure reading gauges and wet spots indicate the problem has returned.

The Corps in August 2005 announced a $309 million rehabilitation of the dam that is expected to take seven years. A new diaphragm, much longer and deeper, will be inserted into the dam.

Shoe said all options, including building a new dam were considered before deciding on the second diaphragm. A new dam apparently not feasible because of cost and time involved.

“I think most people in the Corps are confident that (Wolf Creek Dam) will be there long enough for us to fix it,” Shoe concluded.

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Pulaski carries Girdler to win

In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s primary election, it was impossible to miss the colorful signs dotting nearly every Pulaski roadway. The names in the race for the 15th State Senatorial District seat popped out: A.C. Donahue. Chris Girdler. Mark Polston.

Once citizens hit the ballots, however, the results mirrored the dimensions of the signs themselves: Chris Girdler stood the tallest.

Girdler, deputy district director for Congressman Harold “Hal” Rogers, ran away with the votes inside Pulaski County’s borders, earning 3,926 votes for 62.05 percent of the total number cast.

That number more than doubled the next highest vote-getter, businessman Mark Polston, who raked in 1,624 votes for 25.67 percent.

However, Polston — who owns Classic Carpet, a home-flooring business located just off the southern 914 bypass — can claim a moral victory ... three of them, in fact. In all three counties in the district other than Pulaski — those being Adair, Casey, and Russell Counties — Polston actually edged out Girdler.

In Adair, Polston beat Girdler 629 to 394. In Casey County, it was 538 to 417, and in Russell, it was 1,862 to 1,038.

Polston said he just “couldn’t pull it out with the numbers” and that “the machine worked for” Girdler in Pulaski County.

“I think that was their strategy — I think they had a Pulaski County strategy all along,” said Polston. “They played the political game well.”

Polston said the difference between his and Girdler’s campaigns was that “mine was a very, very grass roots campaign,” he said. “I did not have a political machine behind me. I understand how this process works, and in this instance, he prevailed.”

As for why Girdler didn’t take three of four counties, the winning candidate — since there are no Democrats in the race, winning the Republican primary was effectively a final victory for Girdler — said he didn’t have an answer for that.

However, “I believe things happen for a reason and I hope the long and strenuous campaign will only heighten my desire to move beyond the bitterness and partisanship of the recent past,” said Girdler.

“Regionalism is a goal of mine, and I look forward to helping all four counties,” he added, noting that he campaigned heavily in each of them.

Sen. Vernie McGaha, the long-time state senator whose seat the candidates were vying for, actually supported Polston after Liberty’s Todd Hoskins dropped out of the race earlier this month.

Donahue, a local attorney, got 556 votes in Pulaski County, 8.79 percent of the vote. He only received 145 votes in Russell County, 74 in Adair County, and 75 in Casey County, where hometown candidate Hoskins almost matched him with 71 votes despite no longer being officially in the race.

Polston said he’s “still digesting” what happened, and though “the process has been a very good experience for me,” he wouldn’t commit to running again in the future. “I wouldn’t shut the door to anything, but I’m not opening any doors either.”

Still, “I think I got a lot of people involved in the process that had not been involved before and would not have been otherwise,” he said. “A lot of people got out and worked really hard, got motivated to talk to friends and neighbors. I think a lot of people became involved through this campaign that are going to be involved for a long time.”

Girdler stressed his “positive message” and said that Rogers is a “mentor and good friend” that he would turn to for advice in dealing with a frequently combative legislative body in Frankfort, one for which Girdler hopes to help change the culture.

Girdler said that he was “confident and optimistic” during the day Tuesday because he’d “worked extremely hard.” Nevertheless, the realization that he’d won gave him “chill bumps,” he said.

“I’m absolutely honored,” said Girdler. “The position of state senator is more than an honor, more than an office. It’s a charge to keep, and I will give it my all.

“I pledge to be the people’s state senator,” he added. “I look forward to working with everyone to move this region forward.”

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