THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 11, 1995 TAG: 9505110466
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBERT LITTLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
Virginia Beach officials may have persuaded their North Carolina counterparts to support the Lake Gaston pipeline, but lawmakers in Southside Virginia aren't nearly so sated.
And a group pledged Wednesday to fight for a delay in the project until they've had their say.
Four Southside lawmakers called a news conference Wednesday to pillory the Lake Gaston pipeline deal struck last month, calling it reckless and unfair, and accusing proponents of trying to ram it through the General Assembly without debate.
They used words like ``folly'' and ``injustice'' to describe the plan, which would let Virginia Beach pump as much as 60,000 gallons of water every day from the lake on the Virginia/North Carolina border.
In particular, they questioned plans to call a special June legislative session to consider the deal, and said they will push to delay Assembly votes on the matter until at least January and hold a series of public hearings around the state.
Gov. George F. Allen has said he will call the Assembly into session in late June - within the agreement's 60-day deadline - but only if lawmakers have reached an agreement already.
``I don't see how that can be accomplished by fax machine,'' said Danville Del. Whittington W. Clement, a Democrat.
``The governor is rushing us, harrying us pell-mell to an agreement,'' said Del. William W. Bennet Jr., a Halifax Democrat. ``As it's drawn, this agreement is seriously, seriously flawed.''
Most of the four legislators present - all Democrats and including three state delegates and U.S. Rep. L.F. Payne, D-5th - found fault with the general concept of the pipeline. Bennett said the pipeline would ``undermine, if not shut down, economic development'' in Southside Virginia - the area south of the James River, excluding Richmond and Chesterfield, east to the Suffolk-Isle of Wight line and west to the Pittsylvania-Henry County line - by slicing into the region's water capacity to boost capacity in Virginia Beach.
But the group also criticized the agreement specifically, saying it makes concessions to North Carolina for use of Lake Gaston but makes no comparable concessions to the Southside. Also, the deal would establish a bistate Water Advisory Commission with no Southside representatives.
The most fiery complaint, however, was that Southside lawmakers were shut out of negotiations. And it is, after all, their water that Virginia Beach wants.
``It establishes a bad precedent for the commonwealth of Virginia - one which allows big cities to run roughshod over smaller rural areas,'' said Payne, whose district spans the state's southern border from Patrick to Mecklenburg counties, much of the region that feeds water to Lake Gaston.
``It gives one region of Virginia the right to reach in and take for its own use water resources that are located 80 miles away,'' Payne said. ``It rewards poor planning, uncontrolled growth and the failure to conserve.''
Payne suggested that Virginia Beach reconsider desalination or water conservation as pipeline alternatives, ideas the city deemed impractical or insufficient.
Clement suggested a water shortage may simply be a consequence of growth that Virginia Beach should be forced to bear. ``Perhaps (for) the people in Virginia Beach and Tidewater, as they have enjoyed the prosperity of growth, a price comes with that.''
KEYWORDS: LAKE GASTON PIPELINE AGREEMENT SETTLEMENT by CNB