Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 21, 1995 TAG: 9506210124
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KAREN WEINTRAUB AND DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
In what could mean an end to the 12-year battle, North Carolina has agreed to drop demands that Norfolk be forbidden to sell its water to the Peninsula or Eastern Shore and that South Hampton Roads be encouraged to form a regional water authority.
It could end a monthlong stalemate between Norfolk and Virginia Beach that had effectively derailed an earlier interstate settlement on the pipeline.
In exchange, Virginia Beach has agreed to pay a surcharge on Lake Gaston water. It would provide 5 cents per 1,000 gallons to the area around Lake Gaston in North Carolina and the same amount to the Roanoke River basin in Virginia, according to several involved in the negotiations.
Virginia Beach also would agree to use Norfolk's surplus water before drawing on Lake Gaston, as long as the Norfolk water cost the same as or less than the Gaston water.
Virginia Beach and North Carolina also agreed to expand a bistate water commission, proposed under the earlier settlement, allowing more representation from south-central Virginia. And Virginia Beach would promise never to restrict the uses of the Roanoke River upstream of Lake Gaston, according to Joel Rubin, a Virginia Beach spokesman.
Virginia Beach officials said Tuesday that they hope the compromise, which was roughed out Monday and still needs to be fine-tuned, will entice the governor into calling a special legislative session to ratify the interstate agreement, allowing construction of the pipeline to begin.
It remained unclear Tuesday whether the various parties could muster the political will needed to ratify the deal by the end of June, which is a requirement of the earlier settlement.
Gov. George Allen has said he will summon the General Assembly for a special session only if there is a reasonable chance for approval by both houses.
Ken Stroupe, the governor's press secretary, said Tuesday that Allen was aware of the approaching deadline and could call for the special session this week if his conditions are met.
Virginia Beach officials say meeting the deadline is crucial, because the North Carolina General Assembly will end its annual session in early July, and because the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the last agency that must approve the Gaston project, is expected to announce its decision by mid-July.
North Carolina legislators said Tuesday that their state should accept the compromise rather than rely on the federal commission, which might not be as interested in their concerns.
``This is the best we can get out of it,'' said North Carolina Rep. Eugene Rogers, a Martin County Democrat. ``It's better than letting them take the water out without having something to show for it.''
On April 28, Virginia Beach and North Carolina agreed to a mediated compact that sought to settle the decade of legal fighting over Lake Gaston water.
Many provisions of that deal would be contained in the new negotiated compromise. Both allow Virginia Beach and other South Hampton Roads communities to withdraw up to 60 million gallons a day from the man-made lake on the Roanoke River.
North Carolina agrees to drop its litigation in exchange for being allowed to take up to 15 million gallons a day from the pipeline for eastern North Carolina and to reserve another 20 million a day for the area around Lake Gaston.
by CNB