Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 13, 1995 TAG: 9506130089
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DANVILLE LENGTH: Medium
They find it curious that Virginia Beach would be willing to compensate Norfolk for water it would not use, yet pay nothing for up to 60 million gallons a day that the pipeline would siphon from the state's Southside region.
"It's totally illogical, no matter which way you cut it," said state Del. Whittington Clement, a Danville Democrat.
On Monday, Clement and other Southside lawmakers indicated that monetary compensation for the Southside region is one of several changes they will seek in a proposed pipeline compact signed by Virginia Beach and the state of North Carolina.
One Virginia Beach lawmaker acknowledged that compensation may become an unavoidable issue as the General Assembly rushes toward a June 27 deadline for approving a version of the compact.
"If that's what it takes to get an agreement, we'll consider an amount," said Del. Frank Wagner, R-Virginia Beach. Wagner added that any decision on compensation would rest with the Virginia Beach City Council.
Earlier Monday, state officials reported progress in narrowing the focus of the complicated pipeline issue following a closed meeting in Richmond.
"There seems to be a willingness on all sides to address ... the outstanding issues," said Frank Atkinson, chief policy adviser to Republican Gov. George Allen.
Lawmakers from both parties credited Allen for pushing negotiations forward by bringing Southside Virginia's concerns to the forefront in a letter released over the weekend. Allen said he wanted, among other things, greater assurances that withdrawals from Lake Gaston would not affect upstream industries and agriculture.
Allen's letter helped soothe Southside leaders upset that the region's concerns were disregarded in the compact negotiated between Virginia Beach and North Carolina.
In fact, speakers at a public hearing here Monday were as hot about their lack of standing in the negotiations as they were about the terms of the compact itself.
"Basically, we've lost our rights without representation - does that sound familiar?'' said Karl Lerz, president of the Smith Mountain Lake Association.
The Allen letter also raised the possibility that Southside would be compensated for the water transferred from the Roanoke River basin to south Hampton Roads. The General Assembly addressed the issue in 1992, passing a bill that called for Virginia Beach to pay $1 million a year to a Southside economic development organization. But the deal, which required unanimous consent from all Southside localities, fell through when Danville City Council rejected the plan.
Lawmakers have two weeks to meet a deadline imposed by the proposed Virginia Beach-North Carolina compact. Lawmakers agreed to meet again Thursday in the search for an agreement that would not only settle the Norfolk-Virginia and Hampton Roads-Southside disputes, but would be acceptable to the North Carolina legislature.
by CNB