The Alliance to Save the Mattaponi has many hard-working people and organizations behind it now celebrating a VICTORY. The Watermen, the Southern Environmental Law Center, The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, The Sierra Club Virginia Chapter members and several of its groups including the Falls of the James Group, The York River Group, the Chesapeake Bay Group have contributed many hours towards stopping the King William Reservoir from being created from Cohoke Creek. The picture below on an earlier article shows some of the individuals, only some, celebrating a victory won and lost-one of many in Virginia Environmental Boards.
It’s an interesting case study on the part of the environment and on the part of the city of Newport News, the Virginia General Assembly, politicians, and our national environmental protection agencies. Politics by then-Governor Gilmore and Sen John Warner drove the ACOE case all the way to the Army Corps of Engineers New York Region when the local Norfolk District Region disapproved the impact to the wetlands, the native Mattaponi nation and their river livlihood.
Details are vast, documentation mountainous….Victory is sweet. Congratulation to the incredible team of SC Virginia Chapter Director Glen Besa and his lovely and generous wife and our Chapter Legislative/Political Chair Tyla Matteson.
Check out the Chapter LINK on our website for SC comments. Also, SELC website for video and more details. www.southernenvironment.org/virginia/king_william_reservoir_va … - also check out CBF website and read some of the history below.
By: Chuck Epes
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
U.S. District Court Judge in D.C. Finds Permit “Arbitrary and Capricious”
(WASHINGTON, D.C.): In a huge win for the Chesapeake Bay and project opponents, a U.S. District Court judge in Washington, D.C., has rejected a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit for the King William reservoir in King William County, Va.
In his ruling yesterday, U.S. District Court Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. said the Army Corps “acted arbitrarily and capriciously” when it found that the reservoir was the least damaging practicable alternative. The judge also found arbitrary and capricious the Corps’ conclusion that the permit will not cause or contribute to significant degradation of the waters of the United States and that the permit complies with the public interest.
The judge further ruled that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency acted arbitrarily and capriciously by considering factors outside of its statutory authority when it opted not to veto the Corps’ permit.
The court ruling is a great victory for the plaintiffs in the case; the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the Alliance to Save the Mattaponi, the Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club, and the Mattaponi Tribe. all of whom challenged the Corps permit after it was issued to the City of Newport News in 2005.
“This project was ill-conceived and environmentally destructive when it was proposed 20 years ago, and the court is saying it still is,” said Jon Mueller, litigation director for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF). “The immense damage that would be caused by this project was always out of proportion to the alleged need.”
“This is a profound victory for the Chesapeake Bay, its natural resources, and the thousands of citizens and landowners who have fought this project for decades,” said Roy Hoagland, CBF vice president for environmental protection and restoration.
If built, the reservoir would destroy more than 430 acres of pristine Chesapeake Bay wetlands, threaten American shad, and flood Native American archaeological sites.
Deborah Murray, senior attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, which represents the environmental plaintiffs in the case, said, “As the court noted, the reservoir project would represent the single largest authorized loss of wetlands in the Mid-Atlantic in the history of the Clean Water Act.”
Newport News has sought to build the 1,500-acre reservoir in King William for at least two decades, and local residents, Native Americans, and conservationists have steadfastly opposed it every step of the way. CBF and its partners have long argued that there are other alternatives available, from conservation to smaller reservoirs; that Newport News has never legitimately established the need for the amount of water the huge reservoir would provide; and that the plan to mitigate the wetland destruction failed to compensate for the degraded and destroyed acres and functions of the wetlands.
The Army Corps of Engineers initially rejected Newport News’ request to build the reservoir years ago after conducting a comprehensive study of the proposal and concluding that the reservoir was not in the public interest. However, then-Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore objected, bumping the decision to higher Army Corps officials, and with the recent Bush Administration’s retreat on wetlands protection across the nation, the Corps reversed itself and issued Newport News the permit in 2005.
CBF and its partners, along with two committed Virginia legislators-Delegate Albert Pollard and Delegate Harvey Morgan-have relentlessly argued the facts in opposition to this environmentally disastrous project. With the federal court's decision, science and the law prevailed, and politics failed.
Additional Info:
PDF: March 31, 2009: District Court Ruling
PDF: Feb 6, 2009: King William Reservoir Opponents Analysis
PDF: June, 2008: Comments on the Prospectus for the City of Newport News
The Alliance to Save the Mattaponi
The Alliance to Save the Mattaponi is an all volunteer grass routes organization dedicated to Saving the Mattaponi River by Stopping the King William Reservoir.
Alliance is an independent organization representing over 1300 citizens, families, organizations, and businesses who have contributed to our fight to protect the Mattaponi River from the King William Reservoir. We will continue to act cooperatively as well as independently with several regional, national, and international environmental organizations, land owners, farmers, corporations, legal teams, civic organizations, and Native American tribes dedicated to the common goal of stopping The proposed King William Reservoir.
The Mattaponi River is the most pristine fresh water tidal river left in Virginia. It is the home of huge fresh water tidal wetlands and is the most important shad spawning ground in the state. The river and the Cohoke Creek valley are threatened by a massive reservoir by Newport News, a city 60 miles away. The reservoir would destroy 400 acres of wetlands – the greatest destruction in the eastern US since the adoption of the Clean Water Act in 1972. It would remove up to 75 million gallons of water per day from the Mattaponi River, impound 12.2 billion gallons, and flood over 1500 acres of the Cohoke valley. It would interrupt 21 miles of free-flowing streams, drown 1,526 acres of wildlife habitat, disturb 1,089 acres of upland habitat, destroy a federally protected 17-nest great blue heron rookery, likely impact bald eagles, impact federally protected sensitive joint-vetch plant colonies and small whorled begonia plants, increase river salinity, cause erosion, impact submerged vegetation, and cause losses to already collapsed and hopefully recovering populations of shad, river herring, and eels. We believe the reservoir violates a 1677 treaty with local Native American Tribes which has protected their culture for 330 years.
For over a decade, Alliance has been to all public meetings, and opposed all state and federal permits needed for the reservoir. We, together with our allies, have been represented by the dedicated legal staff at Southern Environmental Law Center in both Virginia and soon, federal courts. Alliance, and our fellow organizations, have achieved victories with the Army Corps of Engineers, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, and the Water Control Board. We intend to stop the reservoir. Help us help the river. Send money. Come to the hearings. Write letters to newspapers.
Thomas C. Rubino Alliance to Save the Mattaponi
Our Latest Victory: On September 6, 2006, the State Water Control Board, denied the City of Newport News a five year extension of its Virginia Water Protection permit. This critical denial now compels Newport News to re-apply for this VWP permit in 2007. As a result, Newport News must demonstrate the need for the reservoir and prove that it is minimizing environmental impacts. In 2007, we have a real opportunity to finally defeat the King William Reservoir. The effort will be considerable, the expenses for qualified studies will be considerable as well.
SELC
SELC has been the legal powerhouse behind the effort to stop a proposed dam and impoundment in King William County that would result in the single largest loss of wetlands in the mid-Atlantic as permitted by regulators in more than a quarter century. A prime example of SELC’s staying power to protect the environment in the face of powerful development interests, this complicated issue involves three separate permits and has lasted almost 15 years.
The city of Newport News, in conjunction with several other localities, wants to build the 1,500-acre reservoir, some 50 miles away, to meet future demand in the fast-growing Hampton Roads region. The King William reservoir would destroy more than 400 acres of wetlands, as well as 21 miles of free-flowing streams, and harm the economy and heritage of Native American tribes residing in the Mattaponi and Pamunkey river watersheds in King William County.
But numerous independent studies have shown that the projected water demand for the region is less than half what Newport News has claimed. A review by a private consultant in 2005 showed that regional demand had remained relatively flat since 1990. Reasonable alternatives such as conservation, water reuse and desalinization are better suited to meet the region’s true projected demand.
In and Out of Court: On behalf of our partners groups fighting the project, SELC has sued federal and state agencies, and submitted countless legal and administrative documents to make our case. We are currently in federal court pursuing lawsuits against the Army Corps of Engineers for granting the project’s federal permit, and the Environmental Protection Agency for failing to veto the permit. The case is ongoing.