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

DATE: FRIDAY, July 21, 1995                   TAG: 9507210057
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

GASTON PIPELINE LICENSING DELAYED BY COURT DECISION

Licensing of a pipeline to carry water from Lake Gaston to Virginia Beach was blocked Thursday by a federal court in Washington until a challenge by North Carolina on environmental issues is decided.

The order delays the licensing of the project by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the last regulatory obstacle for the proposed 72-mile pipeline. The FERC had been scheduled to take up the license Wednesday.

The decision was a setback in Virginia Beach's 12-year effort to remedy its chronic water shortage by pumping from the large lake along the North Carolina-Virginia border.

North Carolina opposed the pipeline, as did residents of Southside Virginia. North Carolina said the pipeline was inconsistent with its coastal management plan, giving it the right to veto the project under federal regulations. But Commerce Secretary Ron Brown overruled North Carolina, and the state appealed Brown's decision to U.S. District Court in Washington.

Thursday's ruling on the appeal stays Brown's finding until Sept. 22 or until the federal court rules on North Carolina's appeal.

``This means if the FERC had intended to issue the license amendment, they are not in a position to do so any longer,'' said William Ellis, a Richmond lawyer representing the Roanoke River Basin Association, a citizen group opposed to the pipeline.

The FERC was involved because Virginia Beach planned to pump up to 60 million gallons of water a day from a lake the federal government created to produce hydroelectric power.

In his decision, U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan said a review of the law ``suggests that the plaintiffs' likelihood of success on the merits is probably not high.''

But Hogan accepted North Carolina's argument that it will be irreparably harmed if a stay was not granted.

Virginia Beach's attorney, M. Scott Hart, said the decision for the oceanside resort city could have been worse. He said he believed Hogan would expedite a decision.

``The worst possible case is a delay of 60 days,'' Hart said.

He said a Commerce Department decision on coastal management issues has never been overturned.

by CNB