The Committee report, presented in December 1943, made a number of specific recommendations concerning the Corps of Engineers' land acquisition process, but neither Congress nor the War Department moved to provide any additional compensation for the landowners. In July 1943, Groves prepared to issue Public Proclamation No. 2, declaring the site a military exclusion area. He asked Marshall to present it to the Governor of Tennessee, Prentice Cooper. Marshall, in turn, delegated the task to the area engineer, Major Thomas T. Crenshaw, who sent a junior officer, Captain George B. Leonard. Cooper was unimpressed; he told Leonard that he had not been informed about the purpose of the CEW, and that the Army had kicked the farmers off their land and had not compensated the counties for the roads and bridges, which would now be closed. In his opinion it was "an experiment in socialism", a New Deal project being undertaken in the name of the war effort. Instead of reading the proclamation, he tore it up and threw it in a waste paper basket. Marshall went to Nashville to apologize to Cooper, who refused to talk to him. Nichols, who succeeded Marshall as chief engineer of the Manhattan District, met Cooper on 31 July, and offered compensation in the form of Federal financing for road improvements. Cooper accepted an offer from Nichols to visit the CEW, which he did on 3 November. Nichols and Cooper came to an agreement about the Solway Bridge. Although it was in Knox County, Anderson County had contributed $27,000 towards its construction. It was still paying off the bonds, but now the bridge was usable only by CEW workers. Nichols negotiated a deal in which Knox County was paid $25,000 annually for the bridge, of which $6,000 was to be used to maintain the access road. Judge Thomas L. Seeber then threatened to close the Edgemoor Bridge unless Anderson County was similarly compensated. An agreement was reached under which Anderson County received $10,000 for the bridge and $200 per month. Knox County did not keep its side of the bargain to maintain the road, which was damaged by heavy traffic and became impassable after torrential rains in 1944. The Army was forced to spend $5,000 per month on road works in Knox County. Additional parcels of land were acquired during 1943 and 1944 for access roads, a railway spur, and for security purposes, bringing the total to about . The Harriman office closed on 10 June 1944, but reopened on 1 September to deal with the additional parcels.