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Over 450 family farms in the Ohio River Valley, submerged due to a recent dam renovation, are on the verge of receiving much-needed assistance, according to sources close to The Post.
The Olmsted Locks and Dam, revamped at a cost of $3 billion by the US Army Corps of Engineers and completed in 2018, inadvertently led to widespread flooding. This deluge affected 70,000 acres of soybean fields across Kentucky, Illinois, and Missouri, transforming some historic farms into unintended reservoirs.
In response, about 450 farmers initiated legal action in 2018 and 2021, seeking compensation for the devastation of their land and crops. However, the Department of Justice under President Biden resisted these claims, causing delays in financial relief.
Insiders have revealed to The Post that an executive order is under consideration in President Trump’s administration to halt the DOJ’s opposition and extend aid to these farmers.
“Our farm, a family legacy for nearly seven decades, has been completely devastated by the Olmsted Dam,” a farmer from Kentucky shared with The Post, choosing to remain anonymous due to concerns about possible backlash.
“We are praying President Trump comes in and saves our farms so we can get repaid for our past crop losses and maybe relocate and keep farming on higher ground,” he said.
“Farmers have had Trump’s back and we have faith he has ours.”
The renovation of the 1929 dam, which is just 17 miles east of the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers on the border of Illinois and Kentucky, began in 1988 and was aimed at relieving a commercial shipping bottleneck on the Ohio River.
The Army Corps of Engineers project took 20 years longer than anticipated and finished $2 billion over budget.
The US Army Corps of Engineers declined to comment on the lawsuit or the alleged miscalculations in the construction of the Olmsted Locks and Dam that resulted in flooding.
A payout for the hundreds of litigant farmers could exceed $1 billion, which would be taken out of the Treasury Department’s Judgment Fund, according to sources.