THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 7, 1995 TAG: 9507070340
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 120 lines
A third major effort to find a peaceful solution to the Lake Gaston dispute failed Thursday when North Carolina Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. pulled out of negotiations and threatened to resume the war between the states.
Hunt said he could not agree to a settlement that allowed construction of the pipeline without guarantees from Virginia's legislature that the water withdrawals would be limited.
The first attempt at a settlement, reached April 28 after more than four months of mediation, was thrown out by a Virginia legislative committee in mid-June as unfair to Norfolk and Southside Virginia.
Political wrangling last week between the Democratic leaders of the Virginia legislature and Republican Gov. George F. Allen doomed the redrafted second effort, which was still opposed by Southside residents and small business owners.
Since then, Virginia Beach and North Carolina have been meeting privately to try to work out an agreement that did not require legislative approval. Hunt decided Thursday that such a deal wouldn't work.
Hunt lashed out at Virginia politicians Thursday, saying they had allowed their self-interest to interfere with the interests of those who would be affected by a pact.
``It is unfortunate that partisan politicking took a front seat in Virginia, and that the people of the Roanoke River basin took a back seat,'' Hunt said in a prepared statement. ``We still stand ready to ratify it should Virginia decide to put politics aside and take constructive action.
``Meanwhile, we intend to fight,'' the governor said.
North Carolina has repeatedly contested Virginia Beach's efforts to build a pipeline. The tone and content of Hunt's statement suggests that the seven-month cease-fire, in effect during negotiations, is over.
The first battleground will be the offices of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in Washington.
The commission, the last federal agency that must review the 76-mile pipeline, is expected to release a report as early as today that will suggest whether it will support, limit or disapprove of the project.
Its final decision is due by July 26 and legal challenges must begin within 30 days of that verdict.
Both North Carolina and Virginia Beach had hoped to reach an agreement while the contents of the report were still a secret, because they did not want it to strengthen one side's bargaining position.
North Carolina officials are afraid the environmental study will confirm the results of a draft report which said that the water Virginia Beach and Chesapeake want to take from Lake Gaston will not hurt the Roanoke River system. Virginia Beach officials wanted to cut a deal in case the final report contradicted the draft study.
Without a settlement, North Carolina is likely to challenge any energy commission ruling that is favorable to Virginia Beach. It can also try to extend an injunction that has prevented construction of the pipeline for the past several years and can ask for a resumption of the lawsuit that led to the negotiations, among other legal actions.
Most Virginia officials seemed to be looking back Thursday to last week's intrastate political sparring match, rather than ahead to any possible legal battles with North Carolina.
Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf said in a prepared statement Thursday that Virginia Beach had asked Gov. Allen to pull the plug on the special session when it became clear that legislators would not agree to a June 30 deadline.
The Beach had insisted on the deadline because of the impending energy commission decision and because the North Carolina legislature, which also had to approve the settlement, was scheduled to adjourn for the year that day. Beach officials were also worried that without a deadline, legislators from across the state would try to exact payments in exchange for their support of the pipeline.
Oberndorf said Allen and his staff worked hard over the last week to come up with a new compromise that did not require legislative approval. She held out some hope that all sides could rethink their concerns and work out a deal.
Speaker of the House Thomas W. Moss Jr., D-Norfolk, said the Democratic leadership made several concessions to Allen to reach a deal, but it was Allen's decision, not theirs, to drop the special session. He chided Virginia Beach and the governor for continuing to talk about last week's politics.
``If they'd stop name-calling and start working with us, we could probably get the job done,'' he said.
Moss said he was also distressed that Virginia Beach and Allen had resumed negotiations with North Carolina without consulting Norfolk or Southside. The first settlement effort failed, Moss said, because Norfolk and Southside had not been included at the table.
Del. George Heilig, D-Norfolk, who helped negotiate the second attempt at a Gaston deal, said Thursday that the politics in Virginia was always stickier than in North Carolina because of regional friction. The southeastern part of the state has always wanted the pipeline and the south-central part doesn't.
Heilig and Moss said they think Hunt was also acting on political motives Thursday when he ended negotiations and released his hard-line statement.
They said they interpreted the last sentence of Hunt's comments as a direct - and unappreciated - threat against Norfolk's water supply.
Hunt said he would direct state officials to review all of Virginia's water uses that might affect North Carolina, including the Nottoway, Blackwater and Chowan rivers.
Norfolk had insisted throughout the negotiations that North Carolina promise not to challenge the fact that for 55 years, Norfolk has gotten its drinking water in part from the Blackwater and Nottoway Rivers, just before they empty into the Chowan River and cross into North Carolina.
``We have nothing to gain by backbiting, finger pointing and all this sort of stuff,'' Heilig said.
Norfolk Mayor Paul D. Fraim, Heilig's law partner, issued a short statement Thursday in support of the pipeline project that did not address Hunt's comment.
Allen decided to remain above the political fray Thursday, deferring to Mayor Oberndorf for comments about the leadership in the legislature and refraining from taking Hunt to task.
``I don't care to be criticizing the Democratic leadership in the General Assembly,'' Allen said at a press briefing. ``Mayor Oberndorf's statement speaks for itself. This is a matter of diplomacy. I don't want to burn bridges.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
North Carolina Gov. James B. Hunt Jr.
KEYWORDS: LAKE GASTON WATER SUPPLY PLAN by CNB