NEWPORT NEWS
After two decades of planning, lawsuits, environmental protests and $55 million in preparatory work, the proposed King William Reservoir should be "terminated immediately," according to a memo from the acting city manager.
If the recommendation is embraced today by the Newport News City Council as expected, it would end all efforts to build the huge drinking-water project in rural King William County that was supposed to serve thousands of homes and businesses on the Peninsula for the next 40 years.
It also would be a major victory for environmentalists and Native Americans. They have fought and sued over the proposed 1,500-acre reservoir for years, arguing that it would harm too many wetlands, fisheries and streams, flood culturally significant Indian lands, and is not needed.
"We're overjoyed," Glen Besa, state director of the Sierra Club, said Monday. "It appears that this long, torturous process has ended."
In his memo dated Sept. 16, Acting City Manager Neil A. Morgan wrote that Newport News, the sponsor of the $289 million project, would need at least two more years and several millions of dollars just to complete a study required by the Army Corps of Engineers after an unfavorable court ruling in March.
After that ruling by a federal judge, the city temporarily stopped work on the project and launched a 120-day analysis about its future. That review is now complete.
In summarizing the results, Morgan noted several remaining obstacles, including a lack of a federal permit that collectively would make completing the reservoir "extremely unlikely, if not impossible."
"Building upon this conclusion," he added, "it is recommended that KWR project be terminated."
Morgan said Monday that he fully expected the City Council to back out of the project beginning today, a process that would include cancel ing contracts, selling property and retrieving artifacts.
"Saying it's over and we're stopping is a lot more difficult than it sounds," he said.
Besa and other environmentalists said they intend to go to the Newport News City Council today and urge leaders to "start fresh" and begin looking for less destructive alternatives for supplying water in the future.
Morgan said he, too, will ask council members to approve a water-needs assessment, due by the end of 2012. He said he expects the city to pursue "a series of smaller, more incremental things," such as increasing the size of existing city reservoirs, tapping more groundwater supplies and reducing usage through conservation.
The reservoir termination comes amid a growing political shift in Newport News. The former city manager, Randy Hildebrandt, was fired last month in a 4-3 vote by the City Council, and longtime Mayor Joe S. Frank announced this summer that he would not seek re-election next May.
Both men were key supporters of the reservoir project, which first surfaced as a public works initiative in 1987. Political and business leaders embraced the concept, while the project became something of a national cause among environmentalists and Native Americans.
The project had been blocked twice before, by the Army Corps of Engineers and the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, but later escaped and moved forward after what environmentalists described as "political maneuvering."
"Whenever a neutral party reviewed this project, they found it wanting," said Kay Slaughter, an attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, a group that has fought the reservoir in court for more than a decade. "It was only through political pressure that it kept going."
The project was designed to supply as much as 19 million gallons of water a day to various communities and would have held some 13 billion gallons in an impoundment on Cohoke Creek.
It would have destroyed 21 miles of free-flowing streams and 403 acres of wetlands, the most of any project in Virginia since the Clean Water Act was passed in the 1970s.
Scott Harper, (757) 446-2340, scott.harper@pilotonline.com
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Another example of weak local leadership
great,
The Taxpayers spent $55 million on a project that was doomed from the start. Anyone curious which firms collected that $55 million and how many City leaders are tied into those firms.
Looks like the mayor set aside a little retirement plan. I am sure he can work for any of the firms that collected the $55 million.
They must be confused...........
Aren't you supposed to do the survey or studies before you start a project? Wouldn't it make sense to get the necessary permits first? Why didn't they do the 120 day thing first? Oh that's right it's the city and they can do as they wish. What is it with the local cities and their abuse of power and bad decisions? Norfolk is still the leader but it looks like the others are trying to catch up.
like my son, can't take no for answer
The studies and surveys were done. Much of the 55 million dollars went to challenge the Army Corps of Engineers decision.
Can you imagine if the rest of Virginia looked like Newport News? Egad.
They don't need it
Newport News must think they are some budding mega metropolis.They are the equivalent of P-Town and think much too highly of themselves. They really want the reservoir so they can sell surplus water to other localities like Norfolk does and thus they make a nice profit. It doesn't matter what damage they do in the process. They will flood thousands of acres of wetlands and ruin all kinds of environmental assets. Not to mention the slap in the face to the Indians whose burial grounds will be destroyed. they need to spend more energy trying to solve there disproportionate homicide rate and their crime issues. The only news that gets printed on the south side about Newport News is about the shipyard or someone being murdered. My last memory of Newport News was being stuck for hours in their traffic.
Did I miss something?
I too am glad the resevoir plans have been scrapped but in case you haven't noticed, Norfolk is a dump too. I have been a resident of the Hampton Roads area for almost 50 years and Norfolk has just as much crime and traffic jams if not more than N.N. Actually, Norfolk has had more problems with crime and murder a lot longer than N.N. I am so glad I moved to the country:-)
There is a great solution
Just increase the water fees and taxes until the people all cry out for blood from the people who stopped the project. Because a magic water fairy isn't going to pop in and make your toilet flush or shower work.
What killed the project
There weren't any alternatives offered, just this one reservoir project. No other solutions were seriously looked at. The people of the area, including the Native Americans who were going to have it shoved down their throats, didn't buy into it. They wanted to see other options, which weren't given, discussed or offered.
Demise of Reservoir
Although millions of dollars were spent on this project, and it is "back to square one," I couldn't help but breathe a sign of relief. For many years our dear friend, Don Brightpath Kuhns, of the Mattaponi tribe sought a solution that would serve the needs of the greater community but preserve the inherent rights and property of his people. As I understood, the reservoir would have flooded much of the very small amount of land that the Mattaponi call their home, including burial grounds. Virginia Indians from a number of tribes have been fighting for Federal recognition for a long, long time, and it seems that they have always been on the losing end of most issues (as have most of the other Native American tribes in this country). It is a sweet victory for the Mattaponi. I feel confident that a better solution for everyone involved will be found in the future.
Finally !
"It is recommended that the project be terminated immediately," Morgan wrote.
Sanity for once.
Sorry N.N. citizens about the 55 million dollars you spent on lobbyists and PR firms.
Looks like it is time for change in your city too, even though the mayor is not running again.
Thanks to those who worked hard on this
My unbiased thanks to all who worked hard with a vision for the future needs of our area. Unfortunately, there are people who will abuse a legal system and create turmoil that is detremental to all. I cannot state if a new reservoir is needed, I can only state that it appears as if this is a growing area and government personnel who have the guts to work on the vision of what will be needed in the future are to be commended. We will not always agree with government policies and goals, however, I support those that are honest and work hard to make life better for future generations.
Thank You.
Newport News Pulls Plug on King William Reservoir
The citizens of Newport News should indeed request for their tax payer dollars to be returned. This is an outrage! Why does this city consistently throw away hard earned tax payer dollars? I for one have had enough! I am in the process of moving away from Newport News and the state of Virginia, and I can't wait!
Adios!
Hope you find contentment in the next state you reside.
What a waste
What a waste of money. The taxpayers should be asking for some of their money back from this debacle. It was a resevoir that wasn't needed in the first place that the local government kept trying to shove down people's throats.
Agree...waste of money
Had more research been done in the first place, perhaps that amount of money wouldn't have been wasted. I agree, what a shame for the taxpayers.