
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, June 27, 1994                    TAG: 9406250010 
SECTION: FRONT                     PAGE: A6    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: Medium 
DATELINE: 940627                                 LENGTH:

LAKE GASTON STALLED AGAIN\

{LEAD} The goal posts have been moved again in the seemingly endless Lake Gaston saga, this time dramatically. After Commerce Secretary Ronald Brown last May 19 had seemingly cleared the last desperate objections by North Carolina on environmental grounds, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) threw yet another monkey wrench into the works, demanding a full-scale environmental impact statement (EIS). There is nothing quick or easy about environmental impact statements. The Lake Gaston pipeline is enduring an old environmental hustle: death by process.

Indeed, FERC Chairwoman Elizabeth A. Moler seemed to indicate that the main concern in making her decision was process. ``I've seen lots and lots of people in a hurry to do things in this town, and they end up getting reversed,'' she said. She said she wanted the EIS because issuing the permit without it might make the project vulnerable in court.

{REST} That might well be the case, since federal judges seem to recognize few restraints in the area of environmental law. A federal judge, after all, singlehandedly shut down the logging industry in the Pacific Northwest to save an owl that isn't even endangered.

Virginia Beach has satisfied countless state and federal laws, regulations and requirements for more than a decade. In 10 lawsuits, Virginia Beach has won seven times and the other three cases are still pending. The Army Corps of Engineers has passed on the project, as have the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, the state Department of Health and the Marine Resources Commission. And the Commerce Department has ruled that the Coastal Zone Management Act does not apply.

Without a water supply of its own, Virginia Beach could soon be in serious difficulty. As it is, there are already restrictions on lawn watering and car washing and new developments. The city is paying penalties for drawing more than its allotted share of water from Norfolk, which has been Virginia Beach's supplier. Chesapeake, which is also slated to receive some of the Lake Gaston water, could be facing similar problems in three or four years.

This is politics dressed up as environmentalism, as North Carolina seeks to stop the project and will use any tool that comes to hand. The evidence? Well, Republican Sen. Jesse Helms, who has never been known as a zealous advocate of environmental laws, praised Thursday's decision and declared ``at last these environmental issues will be addressed.''

The delay on Lake Gaston is further evidence of how much damage overly broad and poorly drafted environmental laws can have. They are open to wide interpretation, both by regulatory agencies and the courts. That creates widespread uncertainty about what the law is. The FERC decision is evidence of how the environmental laws can be used to ambush those who have sought to play by the rules.

by CNB