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Our Land Was Given Away. Nobody Asked Us.

  • Writer: ProtectMcCrackenCounty
    ProtectMcCrackenCounty
  • Apr 24
  • 6 min read

The story of how 665 acres of Kentucky's public wildlife land ended up in the hands of a foreign nuclear corporation without a single public vote.


If you hunted or fished at the West Kentucky Wildlife Management Area, you know that land. You have walked those trails. You have sat in those woods in the early morning. That land belonged to all Kentuckians — held in public trust by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, managed and maintained for generations of hunters, anglers, and wildlife enthusiasts across the state.


It doesn't belong to you anymore.


It belongs to Global Laser Enrichment — a corporation that is 51% owned by an Australian company and 49% owned by a Canadian company, with no American shareholders — and it was handed over through a process that was completed before most people in McCracken County knew it was happening.


Here is exactly how it happened. Every fact below is sourced and verifiable.


Step 1: The option agreement — early 2024


Before any public announcement, GLE secured an option to purchase 665 acres of the West Kentucky Wildlife Management Area — Tract 1, the portion bordering the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant Superfund site. This arrangement was facilitated by the Paducah-McCracken County Industrial Development Authority, an unelected body that operates without direct Planning Commission oversight. No public vote was held. No public hearing was announced. No notice was given to the hunters, anglers, and community members who used that land.



Step 2: The land swap — November 27, 2024


On November 27, 2024 — the day before Thanksgiving — Governor Andy Beshear announced that GLE had finalized its land transfer with the Commonwealth of Kentucky.


The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources turned over 665 acres of its 6,425-acre West Kentucky Wildlife Management Area to GLE. In exchange, the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife received 1,043 acres in Fulton County, acquired by the Paducah-McCracken County Industrial Development Authority and funded by GLE (see source list below).


The replacement land — called the Choate Tract — sounds like a fair exchange on paper. It isn't. Historically, the Choate property has been used for agricultural purposes, but portions are frequently flooded by the Mississippi River. In 2023, the property was enrolled into the Wetland Reserve Easement Program.


Read that again. McCracken County's prime, accessible, actively used public wildlife land — adjacent to the DOE site, strategically located for GLE's purposes — was exchanged for flood-prone Mississippi River bottomland in Fulton County, 60 miles away. Kentucky hunters and anglers in McCracken County lost their local wildlife land. The replacement land is in a different county, partially underwater, and enrolled in a federal easement program.


The Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission voted to approve the exchange. That vote is the only public vote in this entire process. No McCracken County Planning Commission vote. No McCracken County Fiscal Court vote. No community referendum.


 (See full source list below)


Step 3: The first closure — March 31, 2025


As part of the economic development project, Tract 1 of the West Kentucky Wildlife Management Area in McCracken County was closed to public access on March 31, 2025. The remaining 5,760 acres of the West Kentucky WMA continued to be available for public use — for now.


 (See full source list below)


Step 4: The second closure — July 1, 2025


The closures weren't finished. Beginning July 1, 2025, public access was no longer permitted on 545.66 acres of additional "A Tracts" along the eastern boundary of the West Kentucky Wildlife Management Area. The Department of Energy identified parts of Tract 1A and Tract 7A for transfer to support local economic development, resulting in their removal from the state's Recreational Use License Agreement with the DOE, effective June 30.


Note what happened here: the DOE — not the Planning Commission, not the Fiscal Court, not any elected body in McCracken County — made the decision to remove nearly 550 additional acres from public use. A federal agency closed Kentucky's public land to support a private foreign corporation's development plans.


 (See full source list below)


Step 5: A third closure — February 2026


Nearly 700 acres of additional West Kentucky Wildlife Management Area land closed to public access due to a land use decision by the Department of Energy, effective February 1, 2026.


Three separate closures. Over a period of less than a year. Each one executed without a public vote by any elected body in McCracken County.



Step 6: The rezoning that nobody can explain


Here is where it gets particularly troubling.


The NRC's own Federal Register notice — published September 5, 2025, as part of GLE's license application review — describes GLE's site as "privately owned land zoned for heavy industry."


That land was public wildlife management area until March 31, 2025. Wildlife management areas are not zoned for heavy industry. Somewhere between the land transfer in November 2024 and the NRC's September 2025 filing, 665 acres of former public wildlife land was rezoned to heavy industry in McCracken County.


We have searched the public record. We cannot find a McCracken County Planning Commission vote on that rezoning. We cannot find a public hearing notice. We cannot find a community input process of any kind.


Under McCracken County's own zoning code — Kentucky Revised Statutes Chapter 100 — a rezoning requires a public hearing before the Planning Commission. As a further condition to the granting of a zoning change, the Planning Commission shall require that substantial construction be initiated within two years following the enactment of the map amendment, provided that such zoning change shall not revert to its original designation unless there has been a public hearing. NAIOP


We are asking: where is the record of that public hearing? When did it happen? Who was notified? Who voted?


If you have that information, we want to know. Contact us here.


If nobody has that information — if the rezoning of public wildlife land to heavy industrial use happened without a documented public process — that is something this Planning Commission needs to answer for.



The people who made this happen — without asking you:

  • Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission — voted to approve the land exchange

  • Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development — coordinated the transfer

  • Paducah-McCracken County Industrial Development Authority — an unelected body that acquired the Fulton County replacement land on GLE's behalf and facilitated the transaction

  • Governor Andy Beshear — announced and championed the transfer

  • McCracken County Judge Executive Craig Clymer — described the project as "a major win for our community" and later signed a nondisclosure agreement about the county's financial commitment to GLE


The people who were not asked:

You.


What can still be done.


The land transfer is done. We are not going to get Tract 1 back. That is a loss this community will carry.


But GLE's facility is not built. The NRC license has not been issued. The construction has not started. The conditional use permit, the site plan approval, and the development plan application — the approvals this Planning Commission controls — have not been granted.


The McCracken County Planning Commission has the authority to require answers about the rezoning before approving anything further. It has the authority to demand an independent environmental assessment before granting permits. It has the authority to place a moratorium on approvals until the public has the information it was denied when this process began.


The land is gone. The fight is not.


Sources — verify everything yourself:


Step 1 & 2 — The land swap announcement (November 27, 2024):


Step 3 — First closure (March 31, 2025):


Step 4 — Second closure (July 1, 2025):


Step 5 — Third closure (February 2026):


Step 6 — The rezoning:


If you find additional documentation — especially any Planning Commission record of the rezoning — please contact us. We want the complete picture, and we will update this post if new information emerges.


 
 
 
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