THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 24, 1995 TAG: 9503240421
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short : 45 lines
A procedural wrangle blocked Senate committee action Thursday on efforts to force a settlement in the long-running, state and federal dispute over access to False Cape State Park.
But Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va., hinted later that he may have found a way around the impasse, perhaps through action in another committee.
Warner sought Thursday to include a False Cape amendment to a bill that would extend and make a variety of changes in the federal Endangered Species Act.
His proposal would order Gov. George F. Allen and Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt to draft permanent rules for access to the park and would lift current access restrictions while the two men negotiate.
But Democrats on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which is considering the bill, blocked any action. They're irked over a Republican move last week to impose a six-month moratorium on new listings of species due protection under the act.
Republicans tacked the moratorium onto a defense-spending bill on the Senate floor, bypassing the committee.
The Democrats argue that any changes in the law should go through the committee, which generally reviews environmental legislation.
The park in southern Virginia Beach can be reached only by boat or directly through Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Private vehicles have never been allowed to drive through the refuge, and last fall federal officials closed the refuge's interior dikes, or roads, to hikers and bikers to protect wintering waterfowl.
The change forced park visitors to hike or bike 10 miles round trip on the beach to reach the park. Winter visits to the park were off by more than 90 percent this year, though officials report that birds' use of the refuge areas around the dikes increased by 30 percent. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
U.S. Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va., hinted that he may have found a way
around the impasse.
by CNB