THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 21, 1994 TAG: 9407210539
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B01 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ESTHER DISKIN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Long : 116 lines
She wheeled into the Lake Gaston hearing with her 18-month old granddaughter tucked in a stroller. A hand-painted picket sign topped the child's buggy: ``Don't Let Me Wait 10 More Years for WATER.''
Patricia Dean painted the sign in a fit of pure anger. She's sick of living in a city where you can't sprinkle the lawn, even when it turns brown. She's frustrated that she can't fill a plastic pool for her granddaughter, Breanna, to cool off in.
Dean hoped to find a boisterous crowd of citizens, turning out in force to tell federal officials how much they need the 60 million gallons per day the pipeline could bring from Lake Gaston.
But plain folks, Dean included, weren't talking Wednesday at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's third public hearing on the project. It was the final of a series that has drawn crowds in Raleigh; South Hill, Va.; and Virginia Beach - all eager to tell the commission what to focus on in its in-depth environmental study of the $142 million pipeline.
More than 1,000 local residents filed into the back of the cavernous hall at the Pavilion to sign a petition in support of the project. The city had advertised the hearing with newspaper ads, mailings and word-of-mouth.
Some local residents rushed quickly back to jobs or errands. Others stayed awhile to listen. But few braved the microphones.
Instead, the speeches - more than five hours' worth - came mainly from officialdom. Most were variations on a theme: The pipeline should be approved without any more study, but if the commission must study it, then please, please get it done fast.
Virginia Beach is already trying more forceful ways to deliver that message. On Friday, the city filed a lawsuit asking a judge to order the commission to make a final decision on the pipeline by Aug. 25. The city also hopes to bypass the commission by asking the state to let the city seize part of the lake's shore, where they would install the pipes to withdraw the water.
But on Wednesday, the city played the game by the commission's rules, trying to win by packing the house with people favoring the project.
Politicians from Washington, Richmond and local city councils thundered about bureaucratic bungling on the project. Public utilities directors from the five cities of South Hampton Roads laid out facts about the region's limited water supply and the failed attempts to get water from other sources. Businessmen painted a picture of economic disaster if the region runs out of water.
``Delay means uncertainty that we will be able to compete, expand and attract new business,'' said Michael J. Barrett, chairman of the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce. ``Our competition has exploited the federal process to gain competitive advantage.''
He said Raleigh and Charlotte are two areas that directly compete with Hampton Roads for new companies, and that those cities benefit by delays in getting the pipeline built.
For the past few years, Hampton Roads has been fighting a lonely battle for the pipeline. But Wednesday's hearing showed that state officials, led by Gov. George F. Allen, are ready to take a more active role.
Becky Norton Dunlop, Virginia secretary of natural resources, who came on the governor's behalf, said there will be a ``more enthusiastic direction'' by Allen's administration.
Virginia Attorney General James S. Gilmore III said his staff is preparing a legal brief supporting the city's position in its lawsuit against the commission. ``I am prepared to take whatever steps required to bring the project to its completion,'' he said. He got the loudest and longest applause of the day.
The speeches were just the icing: The city plans to submit thousands of pages of reports before the Aug. 19 filing deadline. And North Carolina officials will do likewise.
The two previous hearings had been dominated by residents of North Carolina and Southside Virginia, who fear that the pipeline could cause environmental damage and remove water that might fuel their region's economic expansion. But opponents of the project - if there were many in the audience, which declined from a high of 500 in the morning to about 50 people by late afternoon - generally kept a low profile at Wednesday's hometown hearing.
One who decided to speak was a woman of divided geography: Libby Weaver's family has a home in Virginia Beach and another one on the shores of Lake Gaston, along with a boat and two jet skis there.
At her home in the Pembroke area, she said, she lives cheerfully under the Beach's water restrictions. She washes the dishes by hand and doesn't leave the faucets running. She has a well to water her flower garden and lawn.
Weaver criticized the city for developing too fast, from new neighborhoods to plans for golf courses, and said that growth created the water crisis.
If the city builds the pipeline, she said, the area's thirst for water will quickly soar beyond the 60 million gallons per day. Someday, she said, lake-side residents may not be allowed to ride their boats in Lake Gaston, because the gasoline might pollute the water. She said she worries that huge withdrawals for Hampton Roads will drop the water level in the lake.
``Opening the pipeline and letting the water run free is not the answer,'' she said. She suggested a desalination plant instead.
Weaver confessed to jitters at speaking up before a crowd of pipeline fans. And her message didn't harmonize with the tone of the few Beach residents who got up to speak.
Ed Lynk, of Virginia Beach, was more representative.
``As a citizen,'' he said, ``I am frustrated, because I see bureaucratic and political bullying. We aren't up here doing term papers. We want a drink of water.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff color photo by CHRISTOPHER REDDICK
Virginia Beach resident Rosalyn Rolle suggests the city look to the
Lake Stumpy reservoir for water if the Lake Gaston plan falls
through.
Staff photo by CHRISTOPHER REDDICK
Virginia State Sen. Mark Earley, right, gives a brief statement to
the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission at a hearing in Virginia
Beach. Earley argued that the Lake Gaston pipeline should be built
to bring water to the city.
KEYWORDS: LAKE GASTON PIPELINE WATER SUPPLY PLAN
U.S. FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION SUMMIT
by CNB