A brief history of the fight ....
1) Newport News Waterworks wants to build a 2000 acre reservoir on Cohoke Creek and fill it with water pumped from the Mattaponi River. Their application (if permitted) would allow for the withdrawal of up to 75 million gallons per day from the Mattaponi.
2) The Norfolk District of the Corps denied the permit on the basis of environmental impacts (over 500 acres of wetland to be flooded), cultural impacts to the Mattaponi Indians and the fact that independent studies demonstrated that Newport News didn't need half the water they say they needed. Their ROD (record of decision) was based upon numerous years of research and analysis, using many of their staff, and backed by over 300 pages of their own documentation.
3) Then Governor Gilmore was not happy with the decision and had it "elevated" to the Corps' North Atlantic Division out of New York. After nearly two years, the North Atlantic Division came out against the Norfolk District's recommendation, using no new data and backing their decision with a mere 15 page document.
4) One of the conditions of the North Atlantic Division's permit issuance was getting all necessary State permits, including appropriate state permits from the Commonweath of Virginia.
5) In 2007, the Virginia Water Protection permit issued to Newport News for the King William Reservoir was due to expire. Newport News sought and received up to a 5 year extension to continue under the old permit. One important stipulation of this extension, however, was that no construction on the reservoir could begin until after a full environmental review of the project by the Department of Environmental Quality and the sucessful reissue of their permit by the State Water Control Board.
ALERT ... Stop Senate Bill 423 and House Bill 1332!
Senate Bill 423 and House Bill 1332 have been introduced which will likely have dire consequences for the Mattaponi River. Kelly Place has done an excellent job of compiling the issues below. In a nutshell, these bills would merge the existing Citizen Boards (Air, Waste and Water) into a single board. But, more importantly, they would strip the newly formed Board of any regulatory authority. That is ... the newly formed "Board" would be able to act only in an "advisory" capacity.
These bills have very serious repercussions for the citizens of the Middle Peninsula, who have fought long and hard to keep Newport News from pumping up to 75 million gallons per day from the Mattaponi River. As many of you are aware, Newport News must come back before the State Water Control Board in 2012 to reapply for a renewal of its old permit before any groundbreaking on the reservoir can begin. As you can imagine, it is very much in Newport News' interests to see that the State Water Control Board is no longer in existence at that time, and that the new "Board" is stripped of any regulatory authority to deny them their permit renewal.
I encourage you to please take the time to follow Kelly's guidance below and make that call.
From Kelly Place of the Alliance to Save the Mattaponi ...
ACT QUICKLY--Senate Bill to be Heard Monday at 9:30 AM.
Call and Email all your Senators and Delegates and ask them to oppose SB 423 and HB 1332 which strip the authority of your Citizen Boards. The bills will give big business the ability to politically pressure bureaucrats into granting their permits and allow them to increasingly self regulate themselves. The Citizen Boards should be protected so they can protect the citizen's interests.
IF YOU HAVE LESS THAN ONE MINUTE TO SPARE, THEN IMMEDIATELY CALL THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY'S CONSTITUENT VIEWPOINT HOTLINE at 800-889-0229 or 804-698-1990.
They Will Tell You Who Your Senator and Delegate Are and Deliver Your Message For You.
Tell them "As a constituent, I need Senator/Delegate ______ to vote against Bill SB423 & HB 1332 and protect the Citizens Board's permitting authority and the citizen's rights to transparency in government."
IF YOU HAVE ANOTHER MINUTE, CALL AND EMAILTHE GOVERNOR'S OFFICE AND EXPRESS YOUR VIEWS. 804-786-2211 OR 804-786-2078. TO EMAIL THE GOVERNOR GO TO THIS LINK
http://www.governor.virginia.gov/AboutTheGovernor/contactGovernor.cfm
If you have a couple of minutes, call and email your representative's office directly and tell them or their Assistant you feel very strongly against these bills.
Also call all other delegates and senators you can. They are all important, but the most important ones are the ones on the Agriculture/Natural Resources/Conservation Committees and Sub-committees. All of their numbers are at the two links below.
http://dela.state.va.us/dela/MemBios.nsf/MWebsiteTL?OpenView
http://sov.state.va.us/SenatorDB.nsf/$$Viewtemplate+for+WMembershipHome?OpenForm
THEN, FORWARD THIS TO ALL THE PEOPLE IN THE STATE YOU KNOW WHO CARE ABOUT TRANSPARENCY IN GOVERNMENT AND CITIZEN OVERSIGHT IN VIRGINIA.
Act quickly because the well funded proponents of these bills are already using tricks such as procedural manipulation. (They have recently changed the numbers of the bills from last year when they were SB 1403 and HB 3113. Consequently, some people call them by their old bill numbers)
Mayor Frank, Marty Williams and their taxpayer funded Big Business Overdevelopment Pollution Club are among the prime movers of this terrible legislation. Mayor Frank's secret letter to his big business contributors is attached to this email. It is so full of falsehoods that there is not space here to refute it all.
There is also attached an editorial on the bill from the Lynchburg News Advance. Many newspapers have lambasted the bill, none have supported it.
Here are some of the many TALKING POINTS on these bills.
* Virginia's Citizen Boards have long had a key role in protecting Virginia's environment.
* When the Department of Environmental Quality was created in 1993 by combining Air, Water and Hazardous Waste agencies, there was agreement to keep each of the Citizen Boards in place.
* Virginia's governors appoint the members of the Air, Water and Waste Boards and the appointees reflect the choices of different governors and have provided a balanced group of citizens with expertise in the specific field.
* It is an unacceptable consolidation of power to allow one politically appointed chief bureaucrat to have the decision making power over controversial permits that may affect human health and well being.
* Citizens would never have the access to the decision makers that big polluters would have.
* Property rights and human health protections regarding certain permits could be decided behind closed doors.
* The Citizen Environmental Boards hold meetings and hearings in public and provide accountability and transparency on important environmental issues.
* There is a big difference between speaking to a board of expert fellow citizens who have been briefed by DEQ and have studied the issue, and trying to persuade a bureaucrat who may or may not properly present your case and report your comments.
* These bills are an attempt to circumvent the process due to permit denials for a couple of flawed projects that could not pass review or comply with the law. The King William Reservoir and the City of Newport News are the main proponents for this bill which damages the citizen's rights to have transparent and accountable government.
* If the Citizen Boards are stripped of permit authority, federal laws will then allow the regulated industries to sit on the Boards and write their own regulations too. Keep the foxes out of the hen house.
* This bill would make controversial permit decisions become private political decisions. Big pollution permit decisions should not be political decisions and should not be made behind closed doors.
* The former Director of DEQ said this is the worst piece of environmental legislation in the last 35 years.
* It is unacceptable to reduce the Citizen Boards to mere staff advisors on pollution permits.
* The bill's suggested compromise of an appeals process for the Director's permit decisions is a sham. The bill allows the DEQ Director who would make the permit decisions the authority to decide whether his own decision can be appealed.
* The proponents reasons for supporting this bill are "to streamline the permitting process", "to create permitting certitude" and to create an atmosphere of certainty for industry pollution permits. All of their pretty languauge means a rubber stamp permitting regime would be established for controversial pollution permits that deserve the most scrutiny.
* For years running Virginia has been ranked as the #1 Business Friendly state in the country due to the favorable regulatory climate. What needs fixing? You cannot get higher than number one! There is no need to make it even easier to pollute, especially at the expense of citizen input.
* Mayor Frank of Newport News has decided that the cost of giving your rights away to big business will require $140,000 to lobby the bill through the legislature. (See Mayor Frank's secret fundraising letter attached to this email. Mayor Frank asks the big boys for $10,000 each.)
* Some believe Mayor Frank is abusing his power and office by using the influence and name of Newport News to support stripping the power of your citizen boards without the input or knowledge of the citizens or even some of his own City Council.
* Some believe there should be a series of public hearings across the state to examine this bill and the consolidation of power it entails. Tell this to the Governor and your representatives.
* Stripping the Environmental Boards of their authority to review and decide certain permits is unacceptable. We must preserve the right of Virginians to be heard on environmental protection, particularly in cases that have heightened public interest and could have a significant impact on the environment and human health.
* The Air Pollution Control Board and Water Control Board have already delegated permit authority for most cases & only decides cases where permits have been identified as significant (less than one-percent of all permits are decided by a citizen board)
