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State Geologist Emeritus Haney Appointed to Kentucky River Authority

Lexington, KY. (August 15, 2008) - Former Kentucky State Geologist Donald C. Haney has been appointed by Gov. Steve Beshear to the Kentucky River Authority for a three-year term which expires in September 2011.  Haney, a native of Ferguson in Pulaski County, served as state geologist for 21 years before retiring in 1999. He is now state geologist emeritus.

The Kentucky River Authority, which is attached to the state’s Finance Cabinet, was originally created in 1986 by the Kentucky General Assembly. Haney served on a task force created by Lexington’s mayor at the time, Scotty Baesler, which pushed for that legislation. Supported by a fee collected from facilities drawing water from the river basin, the Authority’s responsibilities include the maintenance of the river’s 14 locks and dams built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and development of comprehensive management plans for the Kentucky River basin.  The plans include long range water supply, response to droughts, ground water protection and development of recreational areas in the basin.

“Developing and maintaining an adequate raw water supply is the most important thing the Authority works on.  It outweighs anything else they do,” says Haney.  “The locks and dams provide the only water storage in the river basin, and we haven’t improved that storage in a hundred years. We have to maintain the locks and dams and increase storage.”   

Haney had earlier served for six years on the Authority.  Before becoming state geologist, he was chairman of the Geology Department (now Department of Earth Sciences) at Eastern Kentucky University for 14 years. He earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in geology from the University of Kentucky and a Ph. D. from the University of Tennessee.

The Kentucky Geological Survey at the University of Kentucky now holds an annual distinguished lecture named in honor of Haney.  In April of this year, Alabama State Geologist Berry Tew gave the sixth annual Donald C. Haney Distinguished Lecture.

Now a resident of Richmond, Ky., Haney has been recognized for his outstanding service to society and the geologic profession.  In 2005, he received the John T. Galey Award from the Eastern Section of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, the highest award given by the Section.  The following year, he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Tennessee Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences.