NEWPORT NEWS -- More than 450 letters were sent to the governor regarding the project, which would pull water from the Mattaponi. State regulators from a dozen or so agencies have never before held a public hearing when reviewing whether a project follows laws protecting coastal areas, but that will change with the King William Reservoir. Robert Burnley, who heads the Department of Environmental Quality, decided to hold a public hearing after Gov. Mark Warner received more than 450 letters requesting the meeting, a DEQ spokesman said. "The way the project has unfolded has lent itself to that," said Michael Murphy, a DEQ director coordinating the review by the various agencies. Newport News has encountered steadfast opposition to building the 12.2-billion-gallon reservoir in King William County from environmental groups, area Indian tribes and others concerned about its potential environmental and archeological destruction. The reservoir - a 1,500-acre valley flooded with water from the Mattaponi River - would ensure that the Peninsula has an adequate water supply for about 50 years after it's built. A coalition of Peninsula localities - headed by Newport News - has sought various state and federal permits for the reservoir since endorsing it in 1993. Opponents have twice nearly derailed the project, only to see agencies reverse earlier opposition. "It seems to me," said Mayor Joe Frank, "that anybody who has anything to say on this project has said it 20, 30 or 40 times." Frank worries that the hearing will politicize a regulatory process that he considers essentially completed. Newport News already has the most significant approvals needed from the state - permission from the State Water Control Board to use river water and permission from the Virginia Marine Resources Commission to build the structure needed to pull that water into the reservoir. "That's why we're suggesting this should go fairly quickly," Murphy told Frank during a Tuesday meeting with the City Council. A hearing date has not been set. Murphy hopes to complete the review process and hold the public hearing within six weeks after receiving updated paperwork on the project. Dave Morris, reservoir project manager, expects to mail that paperwork by the end of the week. Newport News needs state approval of the project before it can again pursue a federal permit from the Army Corps of Engineers, which has indicated its tentative support. The state chapter of the Sierra Club was among those who requested a public hearing. Michael Town, the group's state director, said he would be astonished if the state agencies withheld their approval. The hearing, though, will give opponents an opportunity to outline the reservoir's entire impact on the area, he said. "It will just give the public another opportunity to say their peace," Town said. |
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