THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 18, 1995 TAG: 9502180434
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: DANVILLE LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
An environmental study that recommended building the Lake Gaston pipeline should be scrapped because it ignores alternatives for supplying water to Virginia Beach, Rep. L.F. Payne said Friday.
Payne, D-5th, said the draft study issued Jan. 27 by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was completed at ``breakneck speed'' and overlooked the possibilities of conservation and the development of other water sources.
``I am calling on FERC to withdraw its existing draft environmental impact statement and to begin this process anew, with meaningful analysis, independent fact-finding, and a hard look at real alternatives which exist,'' Payne, a pipeline opponent, said at a Danville news conference with Ewell Barr, president of the Roanoke River Basin Association.
Tom Leahy, the Lake Gaston project manager for Virginia Beach, said the study, which has been under development for more than two years, was the latest in a series that vindicated the pipeline's environmental soundness and the city's need for water.
``This is about the ninth study in 10 years to reach the same conclusion,'' Leahy said. ``The opponents of this project have got to do more than say the latest study needs to be restudied.''
The draft statement indicates the project ``would not significantly affect flows, water quality or water availability in the Roanoke River or Albemarle Sound.''
The draft was not FERC's final word, but it was an indication that the agency is leaning toward issuing a permit to Virginia Power that would allow the construction of a water intake facility on Lake Gaston for the pipeline.
The utility owns the lake and uses it to produce electricity. Virginia Beach has been trying to tap into the lake, which straddles the Virginia-North Carolina border, for more than a decade.
A FERC permit is the last major regulatory hurdle for the proposed 75-mile pipeline, which would carry up to 60 million gallons of water per day.
Payne said conservation measures by Tidewater cities and the Navy could cut the region's need for the pipeline. The effect of a new federal law mandating more efficient toilets and faucets was not examined in the report, the congressman said. Alternative methods such as desalination or aquifer recharging have not been thoroughly investigated, he said.
Leahy said Virginia Beach residents now use an average of 60 gallons per person per day, a rate he said was lower than any other Virginia or North Carolina city. He said the city has employed conservation measures since the 1970s, including many current restrictions on water use.
As for the new federal law requiring more efficient water-using appliances, Leahy said such requirements are already in place in Virginia Beach.
Payne said the report cited Virginia Beach's city manager as the authority for a statement that the city of Norfolk's water system is operating at maximum capacity and is ``overextended.'' Norfolk currently supplies water to Virginia Beach.
``On an issue of such critical importance to determining whether the Lake Gaston pipeline is even necessary, FERC should determine facts independently and not rely on what the parties to the dispute describe as its need for water,'' Payne said.
``The idea that we don't have a serious problem is nonsense,'' Leahy responded. In addition to FERC, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have found the need is real, he said.
Since the pipeline was proposed in the early 1980s, North Carolina officials have fought the project as environmentally and economically devastating to areas downstream of Lake Gaston.
Although the pipeline would be built entirely in Virginia, the lake is part of the Roanoke River basin, which flows into eastern North Carolina.
Mike Easley, North Carolina's attorney general, agreed Friday with Payne.
``This is a tremendously important study and deserves real analysis,'' Easley said through a spokesman. ``The way FERC finished so quickly was by ignoring the most important matters. The draft is deficient. To do a fair job, FERC must go back to the drawing board.''
FERC must complete a final statement before it can issue a license to Virginia Power for water withdrawals. FERC is taking comments on the draft until March 13.
KEYWORDS: LAKE GASTON WATER SUPPLY PLAN TIDEWATER by CNB