FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

                                                       Contact:          

                                                       Kathy Melvin, Business Integrated        

                                                       Communications   502-609-9813             

RIVER FIELDS INVITED TO TESTIFY AT FIRST AND ONLY SCHEDULED HEARING FOR CITIZENS GROUPS ON THE LOUISVILLE BRIDGES PROJECT

River Fields Testimony Will Center on the Facts

Surrounding the Largest Highway Project Budget

Request in the Commonwealth’s History 

WHEN:   Monday, January 28, 2008

                 2:00-3:30 p.m.

WHERE:   Capital Annex, Room 131, Frankfort

WHAT:   House Budget Review Sub-Committee on Transportation

This is the first and only scheduled hearing for citizens groups on the Louisville Bridges Project ever in Frankfort. River Fields and KTAP (Kentucky Transportation Action Partnership), a group of 25 community organizations with more than 15,000 members, are the only groups invited to speak.

Until 2006, Frankfort legislators worked under the assumption the project would be fully funded by the federal government. Now it is expected the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet will ask for $345 million from the state to fund Kentucky’s share of the $4.1billion project.

Tolls are being explored as a long-term, potential funding solution, but River Fields goal is to stimulate dialogue on a short-term solution for the Cabinet’s expected, enormous financial request.

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 River Fields is the largest and oldest river conservancy along the 981- mile Ohio River.  For nearly 50 years, River Fields has utilized its resources to effectively protect, preserve and enhance the natural and cultural resources of the land and water around the Ohio River in our region.  Through its programs of land conservation, advocacy, and education, River Fields strives to create harmony between nature, history and the people who live here.  River Fields owns land or holds conservation easements on 34 properties, totaling more than 2,200 acres, most of which is preserved forever. River Fields is one of the nation's few land trusts tackling regional advocacy work and land conservation.