THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 11, 1994 TAG: 9409110041
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: MONTPELIER, VT. LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
U.S. Sen. James Jeffords called on the Walt Disney Co. to move its planned theme park away from a Civil War battlefield in Virginia, threatening congressional action if the company does not comply.
Jeffords, a Vermont Republican who has been involved in efforts to preserve Civil War battlefields, wrote to Disney Chairman Michael Eisner on Saturday voicing concern about the impact of the project on the Bull Run park and the northern Virginia countryside to the west of the battlefield.
``It will have an adverse impact on the Bull Run battlefield and on a precious and irreplaceable historic landscape,'' Jeffords wrote. ``Clearly, this is not the place for Disney to build this park, and I call on the Disney Company to take its business elsewhere.''
Jeffords said that if Disney continues with its plans, ``I would support congressional intervention into this sad situation.
``The heritage of the American Civil War is the property of every American, not just of a select few and a specific region,'' he said. ``Thus it is the proper business of Congress to become involved when national treasures are threatened.''
Disney hopes to build the $650 million American history theme park on 3,000 acres in Haymarket, Va., within five miles of the Manassas National Battlefield Park and 35 miles west of the nation's capital.
Virginia Gov. George F. Allen supports the project, saying it will boost jobs and economic development in the state, and the Virginia General Assembly approved $160 million in aid.
But Disney's proposal has come under fire from environmentalists and historians who argue the project will destroy the park.
The project is also caught in legal wrangling. The Piedmont Environmental Council filed lawsuits last week against the state of Virginia and Prince William County, alleging that agencies have illegally withheld information on the project.
The Prince William County planning commission held the first public hearing Saturday on the proposal.
And the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources subcommittee took testimony this summer on the project. Sen. Dale Bumpers, D-Ark., chairman of the panel, said Congress ``has a duty to consider the potential impact'' of the Disney project. by CNB