THE KENTUCKY TRIMODAL TRANSPARK: A MAMMOTH PROBLEM

South central Kentucky is known globally for its sinkhole plain and for Mammoth Cave National Park (MCNP) which is a designated United Nations World Heritage Site, an International Biosphere Reserve, and the Commonwealth's most visited tourist attraction. Most physical geology laboratory manuals use examples from this region to introduce the topic of karst and its associated geohazards.

To be located on the karst plain about eight miles southwest of MCNP is a proposed 4000-acre, $100 million industrial park, rail switching yard, and airport known as the Kentucky Trimodal Transpark (KTT). The processes of site selection and site characterization for this massive project have not yet sufficiently addressed the important geological and environmental issues.

The Mississippian St. Louis and Ste. Genevieve Limestones (Meramec Series) underlie the KTT site. Hundreds of sinkhole basins and numerous caves that are little explored typify this location. Under base-flow conditions, groundwater beneath the Transpark moves away from MCNP. During peak discharge events it may cross the basin divide and imperil MCNP's rare and endangered fauna.

Other key issues include the lack of detailed subsurface data, increased construction and maintenance costs due to karst, risk of sinkhole collapse and flooding, seismic risk, and degraded air quality in the Class I federally protected air space at MCNP.

The paucity of objective scientific input has recently become the focus of intense scrutiny and comment by qualified geologists, hydrologists, ecologists, and environmental scientists. The KTT proponents, by carefully controlling the development process, continue with their plan while avoiding the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) procedures. These actions have motivated the authors, both geologists, to run for public office as advocates for the taxpayer and the philosophy of "intelligent development solutions".

This paper presents the geological and environmental problems associated with the proposed KTT and our related scientific contributions to the public dialog. We argue that professional geologists must become more aggressively involved in large public projects such as the KTT that doubtless will have a significant and permanent impact on their surroundings.