Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 22, 1994 TAG: 9405220088
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: E-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium
"Lawyers shouldn't settle arguments between states," said state Sen. Marc Basnight, D-Dare. "Virginians and North Carolinians are neighbors, and it'll help us all if we resolve our differences as friends."
"We don't need a spite fence along our border," he said.
The legislator said he plans to meet soon with North Carolina Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. to discuss a solution to the pipeline standoff.
Basnight, 47, is president pro tem of the North Carolina Senate and has been a staunch opponent of the pipeline.
On Thursday, Hunt and Attorney General Michael Easley renewed pledges that North Carolina would continue to vigorously oppose the pipeline, which would supply water to Virginia Beach, Chesapeake and western Tidewater.
"North Carolina's water is North Carolina's water," Hunt said after U.S. Commerce Secretary Ron Brown decided Thursday that drawing up to 60 million gallons a day from the Roanoke River watershed that supplies Lake Gaston would cause minimal environmental harm in North Carolina.
The water would be pumped to Virginia Beach to meet current and future needs.
"There are many other ways to stop this unnecessary and . . . harmful project," Easley said after Brown's announcement.
Virginia planners contend that the pipeline is the only way to meet Virginia Beach's water needs.
Basnight's strategy, as he outlined it Friday, calls for a more pragmatic and less legal approach to the Gaston controversy.
"The first thing we have to do is sit down and - once and for all - find out what the facts really are," Basnight said. "I've been told with absolute authority that removing 60 million gallons a day from Lake Gaston won't lower the lake or the Roanoke River one inch.
"And I've also been told by equally qualified experts that it would run the Roanoke River dry. We need to find out where the truth is."
Throughout Basnight's legislative career, Virginia officials have been fighting a legal battle with North Carolina for permission to build the 76-mile pipeline. Preliminary work, including a pumping station, has been started on the $142 million project.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and various environmental agencies have studied the pipeline plan with conflicting appraisals.
Hunt spokeswoman Rachel Perry said the governor planned to study Basnight's proposal but would have no immediate comment.
by CNB