THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 10, 1994 TAG: 9407100051
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 117 lines
North Carolina legislators in Washington and Raleigh are working to set up a high-level meeting with Virginia officials to find a peaceful solution to 10 years of legal controversy over the proposal to pipe Lake Gaston water to Virginia Beach.
``This conciliation conference is going to take place and the highest officials in the two states will be involved,'' a source close to North Carolina state Sen. Marc Basnight, D-Dare, said late Friday.
Unofficial proposals call for including U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., and Democratic members of the North Carolina congressional delegation in the talks.
``Eventually we expect the governor of North Carolina and his attorney general to participate,'' Basnight's associate said.
Reports of a possible end to the impasse with North Carolina over the pipeline came as a surprise to the Virginia Beach city staff member most closely identified with the project. Just last month, the long-running dispute seemed to turn in North Carolina's favor when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ordered an environmental impact study. Its approval had been expected.
``I'm unaware of any plans for formal talks, but if North Carolina officials are serious, that would be great,'' said Thomas M. Leahy, the city's Lake Gaston project manager.
Leahy said that previous attempts at conciliation, some dating back 10 years, had always broken down.
``I wouldn't be surprised if North Carolina wanted to talk,'' Leahy said. ``It would be in their interest.
``Ultimately this is going to be approved and you can see that (the energy commission) is leaning that way in the assessment. They may have called for more study but they say in the report there is no environmental impact from the project.''
Basnight, the president pro tem of the North Carolina Senate, startled legislative colleagues three months ago when he first proposed a ``neighborly'' solution for the Lake Gaston controversy.
Until then, top North Carolina officials, including Gov. James B. Hunt Jr., had unanimously opposed the plan to pump 60 million gallons of water a day from the lake to Virginia Beach.
Lawyers for North Carolina have repeatedly gone to court with arguments that the 85-mile, $142 million pipeline would have serious environmental effects in the Roanoke River below Lake Gaston in North Carolina.
Virginia has countered that the effects would be negligible.
A hydroelectric generating plant at a dam on the eastern end of Lake Gaston near Roanoke Rapids, N.C., supplies Hampton Roads and northeastern North Carolina with electric power.
Basnight would not comment Friday.
``I'll let you know something soon,'' he said.
But in an unlikely convergence, Helms, North Carolina's powerful Republican, and Democratic Rep. H. Martin Lancaster of North Carolina's 3rd District also became upfront players in the Lake Gaston game.
On June 24, Helms released a letter from Elizabeth A. Moler, head of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, in which Moler said her agency ``takes very seriously'' the question of adequate water supplies for Virginia Beach.
Moler's commission on June 23 issued an order for a new environmental impact study of the pipeline, a study that could considerably delay the proposal.
Helms said he didn't think the pipeline would ``pass the test,'' but the environmental study would supply information needed to help resolve developing water problems in Hampton Roads and elsewhere.
When Basnight originally suggested the talks with Virginia, he emphasized the first step would be fact-finding.
``Nobody has yet been able to tell me exactly what will happen on the Roanoke River if 60 million gallons of water are removed from Lake Gaston every day,'' he said. ``Once we know the facts, then we can work this out.''
In her letter to Helms announcing the new environmental impact study, Moler wrote:
``The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission notes that to date various analyses of alternatives to the (Lake Gaston) project have been based upon out-of-date cost estimates. Our analysis of the alternatives simply must be based on current data.''
Moler told Helms that the data available to her agency was either dated or ``does not adequately analyze the cumulative impacts.''
Moler repeatedly emphasized that the energy agency was not acting frivolously in ordering the new study. ``At stake are the present and future needs of the City of Virginia Beach as well as those of North Carolina.''
``I sincerely want to ensure that the Federal Energy Commission meets (U.S.) requirements that we take a `hard look' at the consequences of our decision before we act,'' Moler wrote.
The commission's environmental study could delay the Lake Gaston pipeline for many months, but Basnight's colleagues said that would probably induce quicker interstate talks.
Lancaster's entrance onto the Lake Gaston stage came during two recent re-election campaign stops in Elizabeth City. He said he knew of one ``viable'' alternative proposal that could help Virginia Beach get needed water.
``But they'll have to come to the table and ask for it,'' Lancaster said. ``That's the only way we'll get this settled.''
Lancaster said his alternative involved 60 million to 80 million gallons of freshwater now being dumped daily into North Carolina's Pamlico River near Aurora. The wastewater is discharged during a Texas-Gulf phosphate mining operation.
Currituck County officials in North Carolina have already talked about piping the Texas-Gulf overflow to the Corolla section of the Currituck Outer Banks. Heavy development of the Corolla area has resulted in water demands that may soon exceed existing supply, officials said.
A pipeline from the Texas-Gulf operations in Aurora to Virginia Beach would be longer than the proposed pipeline from Lake Gaston. However, Basnight and other Tar Heel legislators have pointed out that a day is coming when many of the northeastern counties of North Carolina will also need more water.
Several years ago, during Basnight's first term as a state senator and after Raleigh's continuing legal battle to halt the pipeline had begun, he told the Currituck County commissioners he thought the pipeline should be built in North Carolina instead of Virginia.
``It's inevitable that this area will run out of water someday and maybe we could sell some to Virginia, too,'' Basnight had said. by CNB