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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 24, 1995                   TAG: 9505240109
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT                                LENGTH: Medium

NO SPECIAL SESSION IF PIPELINE OPPOSED

Gov. George Allen says he still supports the Lake Gaston pipeline, but he's not prepared to call a special session of the General Assembly if strong opposition in Norfolk and Southside Virginia remains.

Allen was in Franklin County on Tuesday night at a re-election fund-raiser for Del. Allen Dudley, R-Rocky Mount.

The governor met in Martinsville earlier in the day with a group opposed to the pipeline. The group included Roanoke River Basin Association Chairman Ewell Barr and Keister Greer, a Rocky Mount attorney who is nationally known for his expertise on water rights issues.

Allen said many of the groups' concerns are "right on point," but said he believes an interstate compact - which must be approved before the pipeline can be built - must include wording that will satisfy objections.

Greer also believes that strong wording in the compact would eliminate any future impact the pipeline could have on the water resources of Virginia localities in the Roanoke River basin.

The 76-mile pipeline would carry 60 million gallons of water a day from Lake Gaston - which straddles the Virginia-North Carolina border and is part of the Roanoke River basin - to Virginia Beach.

North Carolina and Virginia Beach officials ended a 12-year legal battle in April when they signed a settlement paving the way for the pipeline's construction.

An interstate compact - that must be approved by the Virginia and North Carolina legislatures and the U.S. Congress - is the next step in the process. The settlement calls for the compact to be approved by June 27.

But opposition to the pipeline hasn't subsided.

The city of Norfolk is negotiating behind closed doors with Virginia Beach over a provision in the settlement that would prevent Norfolk from selling its surplus water outside its immediate region.

And Danville - joined by Franklin, Bedford, Pittsylvania and Henry counties, among other Southside localities - has filed a lawsuit in an attempt to block the pipeline's construction.

Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1995

by CNB