
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, December 17, 1993                   TAG: 9312170168
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

N.C. RE-ENTERS LAKE GASTON PIPELINE FIGHT

The proposed pipeline from Lake Gaston to Virginia Beach suffered a setback Thursday when the federal government ruled that an environmental law gives North Carolina the right to formally object to the project.

Virginia officials said they were puzzled and angered by the Justice Department's decision to return the matter to the Commerce Department for further investigation of North Carolina's environmental complaints.

The decision was an apparent reversal of the Justice Department's previous position that North Carolina could not fight the water-pumping project under the Coastal Zone Management Act. Virginia officials said it is likely to delay for several more years a project that has been bogged down in court for a decade.

"I've never seen such erratic and unprofessional behavior from the U.S. Department of Justice," said Rep. Owen Pickett, D-Virginia Beach. "It's atrocious. . . . They ought to begin calling this the Department of Injustice."

Meanwhile, North Carolina officials hailed the decision as a major victory in their effort to block construction of the 85-mile pipeline from Lake Gaston, which straddles the Virginia-North Carolina border, to Virginia Beach.

"The Commerce Department has recognized that it is our water and our environment at stake, and we have a right to be heard," state Attorney General Mike Easley said in a statement.

Said Gov. Jim Hunt, "This decision is a win for North Carolina. We will continue our legal fight to keep Lake Gaston water in North Carolina. This project poses serious environmental problems, and we must not let it become a reality."

Virginia Beach officials have long contended that the project is necessary to put an end to serious water shortages in the area.

U.S. Sen. Charles Robb, D-Va., who was governor when the project was proposed in 1982, said he learned of the Justice Department decision in a telephone call from Commerce Secretary Ron Brown.

"It represents a clear additional delay, which is outrageous," Robb said. "To permit this to continue to happen is unfortunate in the extreme. . . . To bring in the Coastal Zone Management Act again for additional consideration is, at this point, simply delaying tactics, and it serves no one's interest, in my judgment."

U.S. Sen. John Warner, R-Va., said the Justice Department has ruled in other cases that the Coastal Zone Management Act does not allow one state to object to a federally permitted project in another state.

"Clearly, this new thinking will have a nationwide impact, as downstream states are given unprecedented authority to stop projects far outside of their borders," he said.

The proposed pipeline would allow Virginia Beach to pump up to 60 million gallons of water a day from Lake Gaston. The pipeline would serve the city's water needs until at least 2030.

North Carolina officials claim the project would hurt the state's striped bass population, reduce water available to farmers, diminish the state's hydroelectric power generating capabilities and cause other economic and environmental harm.

by CNB