Seventy years ago, the federal government promised to pay Swain County $52 million for creating Fontana Lake on top of potentially taxable land. They got around to paying $12.8 million in 2010, and they promised another $4 million last year; but due to what was apparently an unintentional omission, the amount, included in two other documents, was omitted from the final budget. As a result, the National Park Service claimed they had no authority to release the funds. As an extended effort to make lawyers rich continues, the federal General Accounting Office has ruled that the NPS may turn over the funds.