THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, June 19, 1996 TAG: 9606190428
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 53 lines
Norfolk officials tried to smooth relations with Virginia Beach on Tuesday, a day after releasing a report the Beach fears will hurt its efforts to complete the Lake Gaston pipeline.
But Beach officials remained angry with Norfolk for releasing the study that showed Norfolk has more water than previously thought. Norfolk says the study will simply help it better manage its water system. Beach officials fear it could become fodder in the ongoing battle over the Lake Gaston water pipeline.
Both city's councils spent several hours in separate executive sessions Tuesday discussing the pipeline issue. Virginia Beach Vice Mayor W.D. Sessoms Jr. was called back from his vacation in Duck, N.C., flown to and from the meeting in a Virginia Beach Police Department helicopter.
The Norfolk City Council passed a resolution Tuesday afternoon saying the report should not affect the Lake Gaston pipeline and reiterating its support for the water project. The city also took out a full-page ad in today's edition of The Virginian-Pilot, and sent letters to political representatives reassuring them of the city's continued commitment to the pipeline.
``The impact of the Safe Yield Report on the Lake Gaston Pipeline Project should be zero, by any reasonable judgment,'' reads the text of the letters and the ad.
Beach City Manager James K. Spore said he appreciated Norfolk's support for the pipeline, but did not appreciate how it has handled the new report.
Spore and other Beach officials have criticized the study's findings, saying they do not believe that more water is available.
He said Virginia Beach has not had an opportunity to thoroughly review the report because Norfolk has been reluctant to turn over the raw data on which it was based.
``This is an important document that could affect the well-being of our city and region, and we believe we are entitled to examine the data on which it is based,'' Spore said Tuesday, reading a prepared statement that called for Norfolk to turn over the information by tonight.
``I don't know what their failure to give us the information means, but I wouldn't take it as a statement of support for the veracity of their report.''
Louis Guy, Norfolk director of public utilities, said late Tuesday that Norfolk ``will certainly consider their request'' to see more data.
The report, commissioned by the Norfolk city attorney, concludes that Norfolk can safely spare 2 million more gallons of water per day for Virginia Beach or other water customers. It also found that the system could produce as much as 16 million additional gallons of water per day if Norfolk makes some technical changes to its system.
North Carolina and pipeline opponents in the Roanoke River basin have long argued that more water was available in the region and that the pipeline was unnecessary.
Pipeline opponents have not yet taken any action or made any comments about the report. by CNB