ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, September 10, 1996 TAG: 9609100080
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
The Lake Gaston pipeline could be heading for more roadblocks.
Although a decision is not expected for weeks or even months, a U.S. District Court of Appeals was clearly not pleased Monday with some of the logic the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission used last year in issuing a permit for the pipeline.
``Did you bring your bulletproof vest?'' Judge Patricia Wald said by way of greeting commission attorney Edward Geldermann.
The three-judge panel grilled Geldermann for nearly an hour on the federal agency's rationale in awarding Hampton Roads more water than it absolutely needed and in avoiding a decision on whether North Carolina had the right to review the project.
The judges said they were considering sending the case back to the federal commission, perhaps for a limited 60-day period, to resolve the North Carolina permit dispute. They did not indicate how - or whether - they would rule on the quantity of water needed.
Virginia Beach officials do not plan to stop work on the 76-mile pipeline, despite the wrangling. But at a cost of $3million to $4million a month, the city would rather have a conclusive ruling than more delays, City Manager James Spore said Monday. The city has finished more than 30 miles of the pipeline, which is to run from Lake Gaston on the North Carolina border to Norfolk's intake in Isle of Wight County.
North Carolina filed the case after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the pipeline last fall. North Carolina's argument is that Virginia Beach should not be allowed to build the pipeline without its permission and that the commission did not adequately consider facts when issuing the permit.
Virginia Beach attorneys countered Monday that they already have a permit from Virginia and do not need North Carolina's approval.
The judges' greatest concerns clearly lay with the federal commission's actions. They repeatedly asked Geldermann why the commission had not decided whether the federal Clean Water Act required Virginia Beach to get a permit from North Carolina to build the pipeline.
``I have great difficulty understanding how you came up with that,'' Judge Laurence Silberman said.
North Carolina long has said Hampton Roads' cities have enough water if they would share.
Virginia Beach has said it needs as much as 48million gallons a day from the pipeline. Chesapeake would take as much as 10million gallons, and Franklin and Isle of Wight County could use as much as 1million gallons each.
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