NEWPORT NEWS, VA (AP) -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers didn’t actually give Newport News a permit to build a massive 1,500-acre reservoir, but ...

It agreed with Newport News that the Peninsula needs the water a 12.2-billion gallon reservoir in King William County would supply.

Earlier, it found the risk of future water shortages too low to justify construction.

It agreed that Newport News limited the reservoir’s environmentally destructive impact as much as possible, and that the reservoir promised to save several thousand acres of woodlands and water bottoms from development.

Earlier, it found that construction would cause irreversible and irretrievable loss of wetlands and wildlife habitat.

It agreed that the reservoir offered the most practicable, predictable way of supplying water.

Earlier, it found that Newport News had failed to show sufficient need for the reservoir and suggested alternative ways to supply water.

Point by point, Brig. Gen. M. Stephen Rhoades reversed on Tuesday the Army corps long-standing opposition to building a reservoir. Rhoades commands the Army corps’ division office in New York.

Col. Allan Carroll, who once headed the corps’ district office in Norfolk, had recommended denying a permit.

Rhoades will make the Army corps final decision on the permit because Gov. Jim Gilmore wrote a letter of support in June 1999 -- four days after Carroll indicated his opposition to the project.

Newport News officials see the reversal as vindication coming on the heels of increasingly bitter disputes with district officials in Norfolk.

Environmentalists and other reservoir opponents see the reversal as politics-as-usual.

“It sounds like we’re back to the same old business of the corps,” said Kay Slaughter, senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center. “In the past, the corps has generally approved projects like this.”

In a 38-page memo, Rhoades wrote that the reservoir "is the least environmentally damaging practicable alternative to meet the public need."

"If this isn't a home run," Newport News Mayor Joe Frank said Tuesday, "it's certainly a real strong triple."

Before making a final decision, Rhoades wants:

Newport News to update its plan to replace destroyed wetlands,

The state to decide whether the reservoir satisfies coastal-protection laws, and

A trio of agencies to agree on a plan to preserve historic artifacts and to try to reach a settlement with neighboring Indian tribes.

Rhoades expects to make a final decision as quickly as possible. He will accept no more public comment. He named a division official as project manager instead of referring the work to the Norfolk regional office.

"This is about the best we could expect at this time," said Randy Hildebrandt, an assistant city manager.

City officials expected Rhoades to ask them to update and finish plans before giving his final decision.

If built, the reservoir would flood a 1,500-acre wooded valley with water from the Mattaponi River.

Newport News Waterworks -- which serves 400,000 customers -- has led efforts to build the huge reservoir since a group of local communities decided in 1993 that the reservoir was the most cost-effective and efficient way to satisfy future water needs.

Waterworks has spent about $18 million seeking permits. Opponents have filed a lawsuit to revoke another permit given by a state board in 1997.

The reservoir has pitted local officials and business representatives against environmentalists and tribal leaders of the Mattaponi, Upper Mattaponi and Pamunkey Indians.

Environmentalists had applauded the Army corps' earlier recommendations. They expressed disappointment with the latest decision, questioning Rhoades' reliance on Newport News' figures and dismissal of conflicting studies about the amount of water that the Peninsula would need.

"We look at this as a political decision," said Glen Besa, past director of the state Sierra Club chapter. "The facts and the people are against the reservoir."

Political clout set the stage for Rhoades' review.

In 1999, then-Gov. Gilmore triggered a seldom-used Army corps regulation with a letter of support for the reservoir. That letter took the decision away from Carroll, then the top officer at the Norfolk regional office, and gave it to Rhoades.

On Tuesday, Frank praised several leading lawmakers for supporting the reservoir, particularly Virginia U.S. Sen. John Warner.

"When the process is allowed to resume," Warner said in a written statement, "I am confident that this worthwhile project will stand on its own merits."

Kay Slaughter, the Southern Environmental Law Center attorney, said the memo outlined how Newport News should go about obtaining the permit that it needed. Ultimately, she expects the Army corps to give the permit.

"After that," she said, "we'll have to decide what to do from there."

Fred Carroll can be reached at 247-4756 or by e-mail at fcarroll@dailypress.com