 In 2000, Congress (largely at the behest of North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms and North Carolina Congressman Charles H. Taylor) appropriated 16 million dollars for the completion of the North Shore Road.In an Environmental Impact Statement released in 2007, however, the Park Service concluded that the proposed road would be in violation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park's General Management Plan, and recommended one of the proposed alternatives, a $52 million settlement to Swain County.Swain County commissioners voted to accept the settlement on February 5, 2010, accepting a new agreement which terminated the 1943 agreement.