THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 25, 1994 TAG: 9406260046
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ESTHER DISKIN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940625 LENGTH: Long
On Friday, leaders scrambled to line those ``what ifs'' into a strategy for countering a federal decision that could stymie the project for years.
{REST} They found little satisfaction and one grim reality: The $142 million pipeline is their only viable option for getting a water supply that would allow continued growth and prosperity.
And so they decided they must play the Lake Gaston option out to its end.
On Thursday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said it will conduct an in-depth environmental impact statement before deciding on a permit for the 76-mile pipeline. The study could take years to complete, and there is no guarantee the commission will wind up permitting the pipeline.
City officials say there is only one other source for the quantity of water they so desperately need: the Atlantic Ocean.
Desalting seawater would cost far more than the pipeline, they said, and could force city water rates to double or triple.
The process also has major environmental impacts, they said, and requires massive use of energy. It would take at least seven years to build a desalination plant. And the plant, too, might require more government studies.
Even temporary, Band-Aid solutions - such as building a small desalination plant or tapping groundwater wells - would cost millions and take years to develop. And about $32 million already has been sunk into the Gaston project.
So city officials are hunting for a way to overturn the commission's decision or reduce the delay it could cause.
Their plan will likely play out on several fronts: It could include federal legislation, a direct appeal to the commission and legal challenges to the decision.
In Washington, members of Virginia's congressional delegation suggested they will look for ways to head off the study or force regulators to finish it quickly.
The legislators also complained about a regulatory scheme that never seems to end and puts the independent commission's workings out of their reach.
``It's just a complex thing . . . almost a lawyer's dream,'' said Rep. Norman Sisisky, a Democrat whose 4th District includes both Chesapeake, which would get some water from the pipeline, and the area around Lake Gaston from which water would be drawn.
``There are interesting things dribbling in about the way in which this matter was handled,'' Rep. Owen B. Pickett, a Virginia Beach Democrat, told a Norfolk radio interviewer. Pickett said he would look into ``evidence that perhaps there's been some inappropriate . . . communication'' between the commission and pipeline opponents.
``What kind of government do we have that ignores the interests, the requirements, the health, the safety of 750,000 people?'' Pickett fumed.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which oversees nongovernment hydroelectric projects, was the final government hurdle for the pipeline.
It has jurisdiction because the lake straddling the North Carolina-Virginia border was created by a Virginia Power hydroelectric dam. The utility owns the lake bed and surrounding area but must get commission approval to allow Virginia Beach to put its pipeline into the lake.
Sen. Charles S. Robb, D-Va., said he and his Republican counterpart, Sen. John W. Warner, would mount an effort to provide a special appropriation for the study and require that it be completed within six months.
A Robb spokeswoman said the senator's staff was searching for legislation to which those requirements could be attached. One possibility, she said, is a pending bill to amend the federal Clean Water Act.
But Sisisky said he is not sure the water bill can pass this year and suggested it may take some time to find an appropriate legislative vehicle.
The prospect of another delay in the pipeline triggered concerns that water woes in Virginia Beach could increase the likelihood that the Navy will close Oceana Naval Air Station.
Although Oceana has a separate contract for water, it draws its supply from Norfolk, the source of Virginia Beach's water.
One Navy official familiar with the base-closing process said that the water supply figured into the Navy's base evaluations, but that Oceana's military value would be the most important factor in the decision about its future.
Another major effort in Virginia Beach, the establishment of a horse racing track, should not be hindered by the decision. The track, which would be run by Churchill Downs, would use well water; a final permit for the groundwater withdrawal is pending.
One option open to city officials is to ask the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reconsider its staff's decision for a study, said John Conway, a commission attorney.
``Offhand, I don't know of a case where that has happened, and it would be hard for me to envision one,'' Conway said.
On Friday, Commissioner Vicky Bailey said that the five-member panel is ``definitely able to reverse'' itself. She said she doesn't favor any reconsideration of the issue.
``It's hard to balance environmental and economic needs,'' she said. ``That's the linchpin here. The businesses are getting caught in the crunch. But we have to be somewhat above that.''
The other four commissioners could not be reached for comment.
The city could try a direct legal assault on the commission's decision.
That approach is potentially risky: It could antagonize commission officials and drag out any environmental studies. The city has already spent $6.5 million on legal work related to the pipeline, but many judicial decisions have previously allowed the pipeline to move ahead.
There are at least two possible legal strategies under consideration, Virginia Beach City Manager James K. Spore said. The city could argue that the commission's conclusion is ``arbitrary and capricious,'' based on contradictions in the commission report.
Spore and the city's pipeline expert, Thomas Leahy, said many points in the report appeared to support the city's contention that the pipeline would not harm the environment.
Eleven months ago, the commission's draft environmental assessment said the project would have ``minimal impact'' on wildlife, including striped bass and walleye that spawn in the Roanoke River below Lake Gaston. North Carolina has argued that the Beach's proposed withdrawal of water from the lake would devastate the spawning habitat for striped bass.
Spore said the city could also ask a judge to force the commission to set a deadline for completing the environmental impact statement. One of the city's fears is that the environmental investigation could drag on for years.
By next spring, Virginia Beach must tell Norfolk whether to expand its water treatment plant to take care of the millions of gallons that would come from Lake Gaston. If it asks for the expansion, Virginia Beach must start its long-term payments for the $100 million construction project.
If it instead tells Norfolk to delay the expansion, Virginia Beach may not get the water it desperately needs until after the year 2000.
With each passing month, the city's water crisis grows more severe. Every alternative water source must get the approval of federal and state agencies, and could snag on the same issues that have delayed the Gaston pipeline, officials said.
``No matter what you do, you'll have to go through 1,000 federal agencies,'' said Mayor Meyera Oberndorf.
``Do you try to build temporary sources, which could take as long as Gaston to get on line?'' Spore asked. ``There's no promise that they won't take as long.''
The technology to treat saltwater has improved in the decade since the city started its pipeline battle, but it hasn't gotten any cheaper, Leahy said.
Santa Barbara, Calif., spent $50 million for a temporary system that would only desalt 5 million gallons a day, Leahy said. And San Diego shelved its plans for desalination because it had no place to dispose of the wastewater from the plant, he said.
There are also concerns about how the salty wastewater discharged by the plant would affect marine life, such as turtles.
The city, like Chesapeake, has also examined desalting brackish groundwater.
But to guard against depleting the groundwater supply, the state restricts how much can be withdrawn, Spore said.
``We are passionate about this (pipeline) because we are forced into ludicrous Band-Aids that are so expensive,'' Spore said. ``I don't think we can get another alternative up any quicker.''
{KEYWORDS} LAKE GASTON PIPELINE WATER SUPPLY PLAN
by CNB