Ark Encounter gets approval for $43 million tax break, but Ken Ham is Already Compromised (UPDATES)

(Video in updates at the bottom)

I just returned from Frankfort, where the Kentucky Tourism Development Finance Authority just unanimously approved up to $43 million in tax breaks for Ken Ham to build a giant boat with dinosaurs that a 600-year old man herded onto it, plus an estimated $11 million in tax payer money to build road improvements for it.

Take a bow, Steve Beshear, take a bow.

The meeting began with independent consultant Rob Hunden presenting his findings on Ark Encounter. His precise mission was to see if Ark Encounter met the requirements of the Kentucky Tourism Development Act so that it could receive up to $43 million in tax breaks.

Long story short, Hunden said that it met the requirements, and the board unanimously approved the motion to green light Ark Encounter after 2 minutes of questioning. Jobs and boats and Tower of Babbles and dinosaurs for all!

But here’s the long story.

Hunden divided his study under two scenarios for Ark Encounter. Under “Scenario A”, Ark Encounter would take a “mainstream approach”, where it “does not promote a creationist view of Biblical events that may turn off a portion of the potential market”. Under “Scenario B”, Ark Encounter would be full on Flintstone Truth, where kids are taught that a 600-year old herded T-Rexes onto a giant boat a few thousand years ago.

Now I know what you must be saying: “there’s no way that Ken Ham and Answers in Genesis would agree to Scenario A, as they make their living off of vilifying Christians who don’t take a 100% literal interpretation of the Bible and Young Earth Creationism”. First of all, you’re right. But when I questioned Hunden after the meeting about this, he said that AiG/AE assured them that they would consider doing this. In other words, Ken Ham has (as the title of his latest book is called and is about) Already Compromised. Yes, he agreed to abandon the core beliefs of everything he’s done throughout his entire career in order to not potentially damage his ability to milk $43 million in tax breaks, plus the $11 million in state money for infrastructure at his park. Truly amazing that he would (1) agree to this, doubting the inerrant Word of God, and (2) that people would actually believe that they really considered this.

But back to the study. In the completely unrealistic fantasy of Scenario A, Hunden claimed that Ark Encounter would create 3,000 new full-time jobs over the next 10 years, 600-700 expected to be onsite. It would have a total fiscal impact of $103.4 million over 10 years and a yearly attendance of 1.24 million a year, in this fantasy world. But the numbers for Scenario B seem to be just as much a fantasy. Under Scenario B it would have a $53 million impact, and create 400-500 fewer jobs, and have a yearly attendance of 871,000.

Based on these fantastical numbers, Hunden gave it a full thumbs up, and the Authority’s board quickly voted in favor of approving Ark Encounter’s application unanimously.

But one question from the Authority brought up something not mentioned in the presentation. Apparently, Hunden found “concern about the available capital” of Ark Encounter, LLC. So there’s doubt that they will actually have the money to build it. But never fear, as due to the application’s approval today, they have the full go ahead on the state spending $11 million in road improvements to accommodate the MILLIONS of people soon to come there. Whether they actually complete the construction of the giant boat or the Tower of Babel three years from now, those roads will be built, and our tax dollars spent.

After the vote, I went outside to talk to Answers in Genesis flak Mike Zovath. You may remember him as the guy who answered my question back in December (“will there be dinosaurs on the Ark?“) affirmatively. Apparently, he remembered me, too. I asked him if there was any concern about the park if the owners of the land were Raptured on Saturday (in case you didn’t know, it’s been well documented that the Rapture will occur at 6pm this Saturday). He wouldn’t answer my question (that’s not a “no”, by the way), but did say  “Joe, you’re quite a piece of work”. Yes I AM a real piece of work, Mike, because I was created by God in His image, thank you very much. Zovath also claimed that they would be breaking ground around August, so look forward to that.

I spoke with Gil Lawson (KY’s Tourism spokesperson) and asked if there was any concern about damaging the reputation of Kentucky by giving a government stamp of approval and tax breaks/funding towards building a giant boat with dinosaurs on it. He claimed that it shouldn’t be an issue, because there are lots of different successful parks, including ones that have talking mice with big ears. The only problem with that line of thinking, though, is that a park with a talking mouse is presented as fantasy, and it’s also more plausible than a 600-year old man herding a saddled T-Rex onto a giant boat a few thousand years ago. So there’s that.

I spoke with Hunden later, who was a good sport and answered all of my questions thoroughly (video coming later). He revealed to me (this is new info) that Answers in Genesis owns 20% of Ark Encounter, LLC. As I mentioned earlier, he also claimed that Scenario A is plausible, as their representatives assured them that they would be willing to abandon their Young Earth Creationist evangelism in order to be more commercially friendly. That of course is a ridiculous notion, but it is quite fascinating that Ken Ham would say he would abandon his beliefs in order to get those sweet, sweet government tax breaks.

So there you have it, a proud day for Kentucky. And a proud day for Steve Beshear’s re-election campaign this year, as he is very busy creating jobs. Jobs on a boat with dinosaurs.

Take a bow, take a bow.

(MORE COMING LATER, INCLUDING VIDEO OF THE HEARING, AIG FLAK MIKE ZOVATH, AND HUNDEN)

UPDATE: Americans United for Separation of Church and State released this statement:

Americans United for Separation of Church and State today blasted officials in Kentucky for their decision to award more than $40 million in tax incentives to a theme park centered around Noah’s Ark.

A fundamentalist Christian group sought the aid to erect a so-called “Ark Park” in Williamstown. Gov. Steve Beshear backed the scheme, saying it would bring jobs to the state.

Americans United says that’s not a good enough reason for the state to promote a religious enterprise like the Ark Park, which is being constructed in conjunction with evangelist Ken Hamm’s Answers in Genesis ministry.

“The state of Kentucky should not be promoting the spread of fundamentalist Christianity or any other religious viewpoint,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. “Let these folks build their fundamentalist Disneyland without government help.”

The controversial park will include a full-scale replica of Noah’s Ark and models of dinosaurs, which Hamm insists were carried on the famous biblical boat. Answers in Genesis, a prominent creationist ministry with an annual budget of $20 million, believes that the Earth is only 6,000 years old, that dinosaurs and humans lived at the same time and that unicorns once existed – ideas utterly rejected by mainstream science. (Answers in Genesis already operates a Creationism Museum in Kentucky.)

The state aid to the new park is coming mainly in the form of tax incentives under the Kentucky Tourism Development Act. The Kentucky Tourism Development Finance Authority met this afternoon and approved the aid.

Lynn said AU will investigate whether the tax package violates the constitutional separation of church and state. But the funding is bad policy, he said, regardless of the legal questions.

“Beshear wants to launch this ark on a sea of tax breaks – money that will ultimately have to be made up by Kentucky taxpayers,” Lynn said. “This misguided project deserves to sink.”

Lynn added, “I feel sorry for the children of Kentucky. At a time when they should be learning modern science, their public officials are subsidizing fundamentalist religion.”

UPDATE #2: Here’s the most illuminating discussion I filmed, as Rob Hunden answered my questions about Scenario A and B and the funding of Ark Encounter:

And here’s my question for AiG flak Mike Zovath about how The Rapture might affect Ark Encounter, and his comment about what a fine job God did when he created me:

UPDATE #3: Here’s the full press gaggle with Mike Zovath, where he says that Ark Encounter will “definitely” be Scenario A. Ken Ham is ALREADY COMPROMISED.

UPDATE #4: Greg Hall at CJ gets more details from the Transportation Department on that $11 million for highway infrastructure:

Cabinet spokesman Chuck Wolfe said the proposal to increase capacity at the Ky. 36 interchange will be included in the proposed six-year road plan that will be given to the legislature in February.

Because the plan isn’t developed yet, Wolfe said he couldn’t say which year of the six-year road plan would contain the project, but if developers meet their stated goals, it would “be a fairly high priority in the highway plan.”

Hunden said he would recommend that the state not start on the interchange until the developers have all their funding in place. His study reduced net impact estimates using an $11 million price tag for the interchange project. Wolfe said he didn’t know if the $11 million figure would be accurate and that cabinet engineers will develop their own estimate of the project’s cost.

But both the HL and CJ omitted the word “dinosaur” in their roundup. As I’ve mentioned many times, writing a article about Ark Encounter and not using the word “dinosaur” in it is like writing an article about a passenger plane that was shot down by a UFO’s laser beam, yet not mentioning the UFO.

UPDATE #5: Here is the short Q&A with Hunden by the Tourism Authority, and their vote to approve the application for $43 million:

UPDATE #6: Last two videos below. Part 1 and 2 of Rob Hunden presenting his findings on Ark Encounter: