By Patrick Crowley
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Has Rep. Ken Lucas inadvertently torpedoed the idea of bringing a decommissioned nuclear submarine to the Newport riverfront?

Sen. Jim Bunning thinks that by openly pursuing the sub through a bill filed in Congress, Lucas has "killed any chance for getting it."

Bunning said Wednesday that for about a year he has been working with a Northern Kentucky group trying to bring the USS Narwhal to Newport's riverfront. The sub would be the centerpiece of a new tourist attraction called the National Submarine Science Discovery Center.

As of this week, Bunning said, he was close to inserting the transfer of the sub - which requires approval by Congress - as an amendment to a Department of Defense spending bill lawmakers are close to passing.

"But now everybody (in Congress) knows about this sub being available," Bunning said. "We don't have a chance of getting the sub for the purpose we wanted it for."

Bunning, a Southgate Republican, said Lucas, a Democrat from Boone County, will be unable to get his bill through the GOP-controlled House. And other members of Congress will likely go after the sub for their own home districts now that they know it is available.

Lucas said he won't give up pursuing the sub despite Bunning's opinion.

"I don't share the senator's pessimism,'' Lucas said. "The establishment of a National Submarine Science Discovery Center would be an important addition to the Newport riverfront and has the potential to provide an excellent curriculum for science and math for grade school students across the nation."

Lucas filed legislation this week that would transfer ownership of the sub from the government to the Newport group. Backers have said the sub would be the main component of the $22 million riverfront project.

Lucas met with Navy officials July 10, the same day he met with representatives of the local effort to move the sub to Newport. Afterward he wrote to the secretary of the Navy, asking that the Narwhal not be scrapped until legislation allowing the transfer be approved by Congress.

Navy officials even assisted in drafting the legislation, according to Lucas' Washington office.

Bunning said he tried to tell backers - who could not be reached for comment - that pursuing the sub through legislation was the wrong approach.

E-mail pcrowley@enquirer.com