DATE: Saturday, September 13, 1997          TAG: 9709130326

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: From wire reports

                                            LENGTH:   56 lines

VIRGINIA - NEWS BRIEFS

CENTRAL

State Supreme Court invalidates permit for landfill project

RICHMOND - The Virginia Supreme Court on Friday invalidated a landfill permit because a state official failed to state whether the project would adversely affect the environment or residents' health.

The court unanimously ruled that the director of the Department of Environmental Quality was required to make an ``explicit determination'' that the landfill in King and Queen County posed no risk.

Browning-Ferris Industries of South Atlantic Inc. applied for the permit in 1990. A citizens' group, Residents Involved in Saving the Environment, sued to block the project.

The residents lost in circuit court, but won on appeal to the Virginia Court of Appeals. The state Supreme Court upheld the appeals court ruling.

``This is a total victory,'' said Henry Marsh of Richmond, lawyer for the residents. ``We hope BFI will abandon this landfill and let the citizens live in peace.''

Maureen Allen, a spokeswoman at BFI's corporate headquarters in Houston, said the company will continue to operate the landfill unless it is told otherwise by the DEQ.

``This is a technicality,'' she said of the Supreme Court ruling.

The DEQ referred questions to the state attorney general's office, which declined to comment.

Lawyers for the DEQ had argued that the agency director's approval of the permit amounted to an implicit determination that the project posed no danger.

The Supreme Court said that was not good enough, and that state law requires a more definitive finding.

SOUTHWEST

Woman befriends man who then runs over her, flees

LYNCHBURG - A man stole an acquaintance's car at knifepoint and then ran over her twice before fleeing, police said.

Jennifer Rice, 19, was driving in Lynchburg at 8:15 p.m. Thursday when a man she knew flagged her down and asked for a ride, said Police Investigator R.D. Viar. After she picked him up, the man pulled a knife and forced Rice out of her car.

``She grabbed onto the vehicle,'' Viar said.

``The suspect was holding her by the throat. He drove down the street and . top of her as the suspect was leaving.''

The man, whose name was not released by police, left the area in Rice's Subaru. He was still at large.

Rice escaped with minor injuries, Lynchburg General Hospital spokeswoman Bonnie Tate said. She suffered a broken ankle, abrasions and bruises, and is under observation in the hospital emergency room.

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