$43 Million

Pop Quiz!

The state of Kentucky/Kentucky Tourism Development Finance Authority has given preliminary approval for $43 million in tax incentives to be used to fund _________?

If you said: "Ark Encounter, the theme park that is all about how people and dinosaurs lived together in the mesolithic (or is it neolithic) time based on particular biblical interpretations." -- you win 10,000 clams*.

On Dec. 20 the Kentucky Tourism Development Finance Authority gave preliminary approval for up to $43 million in tax incentives to help fund an attraction in Grant County based on the Genesis story of Noah's ark.

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear is an enthusiastic supporter of Ark Encounter, the 800-acre park that will tell how men and dinosaurs co-existed less than 10,000 years ago according to one interpretation of biblical texts.

Ark Encounter is the brain child of Answers in Genesis, the Christian organization behind the Creation Museum, a popular creationist-oriented destination in the state. The developer says the park will generate 900 jobs and 1.9 million tourists a year. Taxpayers will be on the hook for 25 percent of the total cost, but only after the park is finished and begins to reach its performance goals.

Apparently an economic analysis has to be done--by an independent group and paid for by the developer--before final approval is given. It has to meet certain criteria as set out by a '96 tourism law. Ok. Tourism and jobs = important. Understandable. But. But. Seriously now. This apparently is a really out there suggestion, so prepare yourself: there might be other things that Kentucky might want to focus on that $43 million worth of incentives could help. Things which are not religious-based, anti-science propaganda. Just maybe.



*clams are the currency of Bedrock