THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 22, 1995 TAG: 9509210160
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
Following are excerpts from correspondence by Owen Pickett, a Democrat who represents Virginia Beach in the U.S. House of Representatives, concerning federal activities regarding the Gaston pipeline.
September 1, 1995
The Hon. Carol M. Browner, Administrator
Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20460-001
Dear Administrator Browner:
This letter is written concerning a letter you wrote dated Aug. 25, 1995, directed to the Hon. Lois D. Cashell, secretary of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) with respect to the Lake Gaston water pipeline project.
To begin with, I find it surprising and grossly inappropriate for you as the chief administrative officer of the EPA to write a letter alleging ``administration'' support for a position that has nothing to do with the statutory responsibility and duties of the EPA. By referring to the ``administration'' it is obvious you are trying to bring undue influence into the decision-making process at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Please inform me who in the ``administration'' supports your intervention in the FERC proceeding. Does President Clinton support your intervention? Does Vice President Gore support your intervention? Are there other ``administration'' officials who support your action that you care to disclose?
Your letter is another instance where activities of the EPA have been coordinated with activities of North Carolina in opposition to the Lake Gaston project. Obviously, this is not accidental. It strikes me as highly inappropriate for the EPA to hold itself out as a federal agency making objective and impartial decisions relating to environmental issues while being part of a conspiracy with other parties opposing the Gaston project.
While I do not expect an honest answer, it would be refreshing if the EPA would publicly disclose the agency process by which the decision was made to meddle in the FERC proceedings by writing the subject letter, giving the names and positions of each and every employee of the EPA who participated, and also explain ``just how it happened'' that mailing of the subject letter was coordinated with a filing by North Carolina with FERC.
In my opinion there is no conceivable justification for you as the administrator of EPA to have written and signed this letter to FERC. It smacks of conspiracy, abuse of power, attempting to improperly influence the outcome of a pending licensing proceeding before a federal agency, unauthorized use of your position as administrator of the EPA and just plain improper, or possibly illegally, federal bureaucratic meddling.
Since your agency is obviously too corrupt to clean up your own mess, I am requesting the attorney general of the United States to immediately conduct a full, complete and thorough investigation of the handling of the Lake Gaston water pipeline project by the Environmental Protection Agency, and am also requesting the Commerce Committee of the United States House of Representatives to promptly conduct a thorough investigation and public hearing of its own to determine what statutes and regulations have been violated by the EPA in its handling of the Lake Gaston water pipeline project.
Sincerely yours, Owen Pickett Member of Congress
September 1, 1995
The Hon. Janet Reno
Attorney General of the United States
Department of Justice
Washington, D.C. 20530
Dear Attorney General Reno:
. . . The statements in (three letters enclosed) are the basis for my urgent request that you, as the attorney general of the United States, promptly initiate and conduct a thorough and compete impartial investigation of the handling of the Lake Gaston water pipeline project by the Environmental Protection Agency, with particular reference to the allegations in the accompanying materials and the conduct of Environmental Protection Agency employees in Region IV with respect to improper disclosure of federal agency materials and improper exparte communications with representatives of North Carolina.
If the enclosed materials are not a sufficient basis for you to commence and conduct such an investigation, I will be pleased to have the attorneys who represent the city of Virginia Beach with respect to the Lake Gaston water project provide you with a more detailed and elaborate statement of the facts.
Sincerely yours, Owen Pickett Member of Congress
KEYWORDS: LAKE GASTON PIPELINE by CNB