THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 27, 1995 TAG: 9504270339
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 167 lines
Virginia Beach and North Carolina officials announced Wednesday that they have reached a settlement in the 12 1/2-year-long Lake Gaston dispute.
The two sides are expected to sign the agreement on Friday, ending a war between the states that has cost millions in legal fees and stymied growth on both sides of the Virginia-North Carolina border.
The Virginia Beach City Council will hold a special meeting Friday and plans to approve the agreement and authorize Norfolk to expand its water treatment plant to process the Lake Gaston water. Norfolk had set Friday as the deadline for notification to proceed with the $100 million expansion project.
The North Carolina secretary of the Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources and a representative of the North Carolina Attorney General's Office also plan to sign the agreement Friday.
The signatures will mark the end of a four-month period of intense negotiations and the beginning of a 60-day political scramble to finalize the deal.
Both state legislatures and the City Council of Chesapeake have to approve the agreement by the end of June for it to take effect. The Virginia General Assembly would have to be called into a special session - probably in mid- to late June - to discuss the settlement.
Virginia Beach officials said they were ``delighted'' Wednesday that a settlement was at hand.
``It's made my day and a lot of other people's,'' City Councilman John A. Baum said Wednesday. ``I think it's great news.''
Marc Basnight, president pro tem of the North Carolina State Senate, said he was glad to see the ``sister states'' finally reach an agreement.
``This will bring increased cooperation between our regions and I hope I can help with speedy approval by our legislative branch,'' the Manteo legislator said.
The pipeline will stretch 76 miles from an intake point at Pea Hill Creek on Lake Gaston, which straddles the states' border, to a Norfolk reservoir in Isle of Wight County. Water from the lake will be treated by Norfolk before being shipped to Virginia Beach and other Hampton Roads' partners in the pipeline.
Lake Gaston water won't appear in Hampton Roads until the spring of 1998 at the earliest; restrictions that prohibit watering lawns and washing cars in Virginia Beach probably will not lifted soon.
There was speculation Wednesday that the agreement might encourage Norfolk to allow Virginia Beach more than the 30 million gallons of water per day it is now permitted under an inter-city contract.
Norfolk City Manager James B. Oliver Jr. said he was told Virginia Beach might ask for more water on the promise of a Lake Gaston accord to allow for immediate economic development.
``It all depends. I just really got kind of a feeler that the Beach was courting a big water user and wanted to talk about it. But we haven't done it yet.''
All parties contacted Wednesday were quick to point out that the deal won't be completed until all the political signatures are on the document's last page.
Chesapeake Mayor William E. Ward and other Chesapeake officials said Wednesday that they expect their City Council to sign off on the accord.
``It's not 100 percent sure we'll sign on, but I'd say it's pretty close.''
The Virginia Beach delegation to the General Assembly supports the agreement but will have a difficult time persuading other legislaltors to vote for the measure, several members said Wednesday.
``This is not a done deal by any stretch of the imagination,'' said Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle, R-Virginia Beach. ``This is going to be a real battle.''
Legislators from the Roanoke River Basin have opposed the pipeline previously and are expected to fight the agreement.
Stolle said Gov. George F. Allen has agreed to call a special session of the Assembly if the Virginia Beach delegation can get broad, bipartisan support for the agreement, and can prevent legislators from bringing up topics other than the Gaston agreement.
Allen could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
The primary opposition to the accord is expected to come from the Roanoke River Basin Association, a group of property owners mostly near Lake Gaston.
Residents of that area have worried that if Hampton Roads gets water from the lake their economy will be jeopardized.
W. Ewell Barr, president of the association, said he has not yet seen the agreement, but he is not inclined to favor it.
``Based on what little information we've been provided on the contents, we can only conclude that the proposed settlement is contrary to the best interests of the Roanoke River Basin and exacerbates problems that we anticipate will result from the Lake Gaston pipeline,'' Barr said.
The settlement contains several provisions intended to protect North Carolina and the river basin.
The two sides would sign an interstate compact that will prohibit Hampton Roads from taking any additional water from the lake without North Carolina's consent. Both houses of the U.S. Congress will have to approve the compact.
And a bistate commission would be established to study and monitor Virginia's use of Lake Gaston water to make sure the pipeline has no adverse impact on the Roanoke River Basin.
Barr said he is not sure those protections are enough.
``Obviously, we will be looking to see if the agreement adequately protects the entire Roanoke River Basin,'' Barr said. ``But if it does not, we shall do our utmost to defeat it, or provide in some manner that our interests are recognized and protected.''
John Bickerman, the Washington lawyer who brokered the agreement, said the accord is good because both sides got what they said they needed.
``If North Carolina is right, then the demand (for) water through the pipeline will be less, as it has always contended,'' Bickerman, a lawyer with Kaye, Scholer, Fierman, Hays and Handler, said Wednesday. ``If, however, Virginia Beach is right, the water will be there through the pipeline.
``So I don't think that either side ever had to concede its fundamental position, and that I think is the fundamental beauty of this agreement.''
He also said the agreement provides more protection for the Roanoke River Basin residents than they would have gotten if Virginia Beach had won its legal battles for the pipeline.
Senator John W. Warner Jr. said he was beginning to grow optimistic about the pipeline's prospects after working on the project for more than a decade.
Warner said the breakthrough could have far-reaching implications for the survival of military bases in the region.
``My perspective has been from the very beginning that it's extremely important to military installations in both Norfolk and Virginia Beach that this issue be settled,'' Warner said, ``and that any doubt about adequate water supplies be removed. Because it is an issue that could be brought up in base-closing procedures in the future.''
Warner, as chairman of the Senate transportation subcommittee which oversees federal highway funds, said he would fight for federal dollars to help widen U.S. Route 17 and Virginia Route 168. The agreement requires that Virginia state and federal officials promise to help ``expeditiously'' expand the two roads which lead to North Carolina's Outer Banks.
Warner's Democratic counterpart, Virginia Sen. Charles S. Robb, said in a prepared statement Wednesday: ``It appears that North Carolina has adopted the arguments we've been making for over a decade, and if this agreement is what it takes to break the logjam and put the pipeline back on schedule, then I support it.''
Ridge Schuyler, Robb's legislative director, added that the remaining hurdles seem small in comparison to the past years of struggle, but they present a challenge.
Lake Gaston was created in 1963 when the Roanoke River was damned as a hydroelectric project by Virginia Power. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which is the last agency that needs to sign off on the pipeline, has jurisdiction because it oversees such power plants.
The agency is expected to approve the pipeline this summer. MEMO: Staff writers Francie Latour and Mason Peters contributed to this
report.
ILLUSTRATION: Staff file photo
Workmen prepare to pour concrete at the Meherrin River crossing of
the Lake Gaston pipeline in January 1993.
Staff graphic
Lake Gaston Pipeline Timeline
For copy of Timeline, see microfilm.
Staff graphic
Virginia Beach's Checklist for Lake Gaston
Source: Staff Research
Permits and approvals:
Construction
Lawsuits about:
For copy of graphic, see microfilm
KEYWORDS: LAKE GASTON PIPELINE SETTLEMENT NORTH CAROLINA VIRGINIA
BEACH NORFOLK WATER PLANT TIMELINE LAWSUIT < by CNB