
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, August 14, 1994                   TAG: 9408150061
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: E-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                                LENGTH: Medium

GASTON PIPELINE DECISION STANDS

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said Friday it won't reconsider its decision to require a full environmental review of the proposed Lake Gaston pipeline.

The agency had been asked by Virginia Beach officials to take another look at its June 23 decision that the 76-mile water-supply line needs a complete environmental impact study.

FERC must issue a permit before an intake facility can be constructed at the lake, which straddles the Virginia-North Carolina border and is used for hydroelectric power generation.

Virginia Beach officials contend that the lengthy review could take a year or longer, further delaying a project that already has undergone several assessments of its impact on such things as wildlife habitat and river basin flows.

The pipeline was first approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers a decade ago.

Officials in North Carolina, the pipeline's chief opponent, believe that the study will show that withdrawing up to 60 million gallons of water a day for Virginia Beach would harm the state's coastal area downstream from the lake.

``We are pleased that FERC is sticking with its original decision,'' said North Carolina Attorney General Mike Easley. ``We have fought for an environmental impact study for 10 years. It is exactly what we want.''

Virginia Beach officials said FERC's denial had been anticipated.

``It's nothing we didn't expect,'' said Tom Leahy, the city's director of the Lake Gaston project. ``They rarely grant these things, but obviously we always have this hope that they'll do it.''

by CNB