THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 24, 1994 TAG: 9412240293
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
The city has lost its court bid to force FERC - the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission - to approve the Lake Gaston water pipeline.
On Thursday, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond denied Virginia Beach's request that it order FERC to approve the 76-mile pipeline, which would carry 60 million gallons of water a day from a lake along the North Carolina border to South Hampton Roads. The water, which would be treated in Norfolk, would be divided among Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Franklin and Isle of Wight County.
The city needs FERC's permission to take the water because the federal agency oversees a Virginia Power hydroelectric plant that also draws from Lake Gaston.
FERC stunned the city in the summer by reversing its plans and deciding to conduct a time-consuming environmental study of the pipeline project.
Virginia Beach lawyers argued that FERC, by requiring the study three years after the city submitted an application for the pipeline, had dragged its feet. The study, supported by the pipeline's opponents, is a major stumbling block to construction of the project.
In rejecting Virginia Beach's request, the court Thursday agreed FERC had taken a long time but said the agency's promise to complete the study by next summer sufficed.
``The opinion clearly indicates sympathy for Virginia Beach and some consternation with the federal government and FERC in particular,'' Tom Leahy, the city's project manager for the Lake Gaston pipeline, said Friday. ``In a very polite way they've said FERC has been out of line, and the reason they're not granting the relief that we need is because the agency has promised now to expedite the matter.''
Jerome M. Feit, representing FERC, said the court's decision ``vindicates'' his agency's decision to conduct an environmental study. He said that as far as he knows, FERC is on schedule to release a draft of the study in February and the final version in the summer.
North Carolina's attorney general, Michael F. Easley, who has led the state's opposition to the project, lauded the court's ruling. All sides in the dispute will be better off knowing the true environmental impact of the pipeline, he said Friday.
The setback in court leaves Virginia Beach with one remaining strategy for circumventing FERC.
The city received permission from the Virginia State Corporation Commission in the fall to condemn a 4-acre site along the lake front where the pipeline would begin. The property is owned by Virginia Power, which is regulated by FERC.
The city contends that if it can gain title to the land, FERC will lose jurisdiction over it.
Virginia Beach is trying to get a North Carolina judge to rewrite an injunction that prohibits construction until all relevant federal agencies have signed off on the project. The city wants the judge to allow work on the pipeline to proceed if the city can obtain the 4-acre site through condemnation.
Easley said he doubts the strategy will work. Even if the judge does allow Virginia Beach to condemn the property, he said, the city still will have to fight for the right to take water out of the lake.
``We're at the point now where I think Virginia Beach has pretty much run out of legal options,'' Easley said.
KEYWORDS: LAKE GASTON PIPELINE WATER SUPPLY PLAN by CNB