Waste of the Day: Throwback Thursday: Federal Government Builds Underwater Trail
Topline: The federal government spends money to maintain over 1,300 national hiking trails that are easily accessible to all Americans — but it also spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a trail that is underwater.
In 2008, two Democratic senators from Maryland earmarked $446,500 to place buoys along the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail so that visitors could sail along the path once traveled by the famous explorer.
There was just one limiting factor: travelers needed to provide their own boat.
That’s according to the “Wastebook” reporting published by the late U.S. Senator Dr. Tom Coburn. For years, these reports shined a white-hot spotlight on federal frauds and taxpayer abuses.
Coburn, the legendary U.S. Senator from Oklahoma, earned the nickname "Dr. No" by stopping thousands of pork-barrel projects using the Senate rules. Projects that he couldn't stop, Coburn included in his oversight reports.
Coburn's Wastebook 2008 included 65 examples of outrageous spending worth more than $1.3 billion, including the earmark for the underwater hiking trail — which would be worth $660,000 today.
Key facts: The John Smith trail covers 3,000 miles in six states stretching from Virginia to New York and was first established by President George W. Bush in 2006.
Sens. Ben Cardin and Barbara Mikulski sent over more funds in 2008 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s budget to install “talking buoys” that gave travelers info on the weather and the history of the region.
Miraculously, that was only enough money to buy markers so visitors could see the trail from land.
If parkgoers wanted to actually use the trail, they would need to provide their own boat. That’s perhaps a less equitable arrangement than Smith envisioned when establishing the first English colony in America.
Boat-less visitors had to wait until 2015, when the federal government spent another $2 million to build canoe launches around the trail.
Summary: The Department of Transportation bans earmarks from being used on projects that most of the public can’t access. Who would have thought a similar rule might be necessary for our national parks?
The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com
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