THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 15, 1996 TAG: 9606150348
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
LENGTH: 33 lines
Lake Gaston pipeline opponents filed another round of legal briefs Friday in their continuing effort to stop the South Hampton Roads water project.
Opponents in North Carolina and upstream of Lake Gaston along the Roanoke River have appealed the federal government's decision last year to allow work on the pipeline to resume.
In its 36-page brief, North Carolina, which has been fighting the pipeline for 13 years, repeated arguments that South Hampton Roads doesn't need the water, that Virginia Beach has not gotten enough permits to build the pipeline, and that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission failed to consider all the facts when it issued Virginia Beach a permit for the pipeline last year.
The Roanoke River Basin Association, which represents homeowners, business leaders and politicians along the Roanoke River in Virginia, also filed a 20-page brief restating its arguments against the pipeline.
Pipeline construction had begun in 1990, but was quickly halted by a court injunction. That injunction was lifted last year, and contractors have since built about 20 miles of the 76-mile pipeline.
Virginia Beach, the state of Virginia and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission have filed all their legal briefs in the case supporting the construction. Pipeline opponents were allowed to respond Friday to issues raised in the earlier filings.
The case will be argued before the U.S. District Court of Appeals in Washington on Sept. 9.
KEYWORDS: LAKE GASTON by CNB