Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 1, 1994 TAG: 9405010076
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The foundation is the region's largest environmental group, and its decision to oppose Disney's America is a setback for Disney officials. They had tried to persuade the group the park will not hurt the environment and add to pollution in the bay.
But after analyzing Disney's proposal, foundation officials concluded the park will worsen traffic problems and undermine air quality.
"It's not a stretch for us to say that this development, with what it will induce around it, will further stress the bay," Lee Epstein, the director of the group's land programs, said Friday.
The foundation, which has about 83,000 members, plans to formally announce its opposition to the project at a forum sponsored by the regional Transportation Planning Board. The board is to vote May 18 on whether to include Disney-related road projects in a plan that examines the effect of such projects on air pollution in the region.
Leon G. Billings, Disney's environmental compliance consultant, said the foundation was taking "an uneducated shot" at Disney's plans. He noted many of the environmental studies associated with the project have not been completed.
The distance of Disney's America from the bay will reduce the impact on it, Billings said. He added that project staff members have been told by senior Disney officials to make the project a model in environmental protection.
Epstein said the theme park's distance from the bay has little to do with its impact on pollution because the watershed and tributaries that feed into the bay stretch as far as West Virginia. Pollution from tailpipe emissions also contributes to the bay's buildup of nitrogen pollution, he said.
by CNB