SOAR-ing: $11 million in grants coming to eastern Kentucky

27 Sep 2018


PIKEVILLE, Ky. (KT) -  Several grants were announced to benefit eastern Kentucky at the fifth annual SOAR summit meeting.

The federal grants, totaling more than $11 million, come from the Appalachian Regional Commission, the Abandoned Mine Lands program and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development office.

The largest grant, $10.5 million, is a pilot project from the Abandoned Mine Lands program, which will benefit two counties.

Of that, Letcher County will receive $4.5 million for a water expansion project that will serve 100 additional households and a future federal prison in Roxana. The funding will be used to install approximately 9.5 miles of water transmission lines, along with elevated storage tanks and booster pump stations, and a waste water treatment plant to support the 800-acre penitentiary, which will house more than 1,200 inmates and employ approximately 300 full-time staff.