ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, January 8, 1996 TAG: 9601080024
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITER
Bland County residents are ready to take on the issue of who gets to protect Virginia's environment, something the federal government, the Allen administration, the General Assembly and a busload of lawyers have failed to resolve for years.
Last week, the county Board of Supervisors decided it would challenge in court an air pollution permit the state recently issued for a commercial medical waste incinerator in Bastian. Several property owners who have fought the garbage burner are also considering a lawsuit.
If they're allowed in the courtroom, that is. First, they would have to gain legal "standing" to sue by proving they have an immediate, financial and substantial interest in whether the incinerator is built.
The county's challenge would be a test of Virginia's standing law, which critics say deprives average residents of the right to appeal environmental permits that may harm their health or property.
"People around here may not get excited about the spotted owl, but they do care about the long-term protection of their natural resources," said Del. Thomas Jackson, D-Hillsville, whose district includes Bland County.
But forces far beyond the small community in Southwest Virginia will come into play over the next several months, and what the outcome means for Bland County citizens is anyone's guess.
The General Assembly convenes this week and, for the fifth year in a row, will haggle over the standing issue. Del. Kenneth Plum, D-Reston, plans to introduce or co-sponsor legislation that would enable more people to get into court.
Jackson and Sen. Jack Reasor, D-Bluefield, said they favor broadening the standing law, especially because of Bland County's predicament.
"It makes it more personal," Reasor said.
Still, both are wary of opening a floodgate to frivolous lawsuits that would delay the permitting process and slow economic growth.
That is the concern of industry, which has lobbied against standing legislation seen as too liberal.
"People who have a general ax to grind, such as they're anti-development, but don't have a stake in an individual permit" shouldn't be allowed into court, said Carol Wampler, environmental specialist with the Virginia Manufacturers Association.
She said she would be closely following any proposed changes to the standing law, which she believes provides adequate standing for residents challenging air pollution permits.
Others will be watching too - the Virginia chapters of the Sierra Club and the American Lung Association, and especially Kay Slaughter, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center in Charlottesville who has been in the thick of the controversy for many years.
She is working on a revision of the standing law that she hopes will satisfy both the environmental and business community.
Anything passed into law would also have to satisfy the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA found that the state's law was too restrictive, and took over part of Virginia's air pollution control program in November.
In response, Gov. George Allen sued the agency. A ruling isn't expected until later this spring - well after the General Assembly has adjourned.
The legislature tends to avoid issues that are in litigation, preferring to wait for the court's interpretation. But that's just an excuse for inaction, some environmentalists and legislators say.
Meanwhile, a July deadline looms for the EPA to begin enforcing sanctions against the state - including suspending up to $1 billion in federal highway funds and making it harder for new businesses to locate in certain parts of the state.
"It is coming to a critical point, isn't it? And it is sort of like playing chicken, isn't it?'' said Elizabeth Haskell, former secretary of Natural Resources who now heads up Conserve Virginia, a newly formed political action committee on environmental issues.
Despite the threat of sanctions, a longtime standing proponent, Sen. Joseph Gartlan Jr., D-Fairfax County, isn't optimistic about getting a more liberal standing law through the Senate, which this year is evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. Even if a bill passes, the governor is sure to veto it, he said.
"And there's no way we could override a veto," Gartlan said.
Still, environmentalists aren't giving up. With each passing year, more people are becoming aware of the issue, said environmental lawyer Slaughter. Roughly two out of three Virginians want the right to sue the state over air and water pollution permits, according to a 1995 survey commissioned by the Virginia Environmental Endowment, a nonprofit group based in Richmond.
Many people "never realize they don't have [standing] until they need it," she said.
Such is the case in Bland County. And now, given the constantly shifting political and legal winds, county officials and residents are wondering if they have one last shot at keeping the medical waste incinerator out of their community by going to court.
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