King William Reservoir (VA)
State Water Control Board
Newport News needs a permit from the Virginia State Water Control Board to allow withdrawals from state waters. In December 1997, the board issued a Virginia Water Protection Permit authorizing the city to withdraw up to 75 million gallons per day (mgd) of water from the Mattaponi River.
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Sierra Club, the Alliance to Save the Mattaponi, and the Mattaponi and Pamunkey Rivers Association, represented by SELC, and the Mattaponi Indian Tribe appealed the SWCB’s decision. (Newport News also appealed the permit, saying it was too restrictive.)
Our first roadblock was fighting for legal standing — our right to challenge the permit in court, which Newport News objected. The issue went all the way to the Virginia Supreme Court, which ultimately upheld the right of citizens to challenge state water withdrawal permits in court. It was the first time the Supreme Court had reviewed a 1996 Virginia law allowing citizens the right to review state environmental permits in court. For a decade, SELC worked at the legislative and judicial level to strengthen this vital law.
The King William reservoir withdrawal permit case then went back to the lower courts to be decided on the issues. In June 2003, the Newport News Circuit Court issued a decision upholding the permit. SELC, the environmental groups and individual landowners - and in a separate filing the Mattaponi Indian Tribe - appealed this decision to the state Supreme Court. The court ruled against us in November 2005. However, there are still outstanding legal issues involving the Mattaponi Tribe's treaty rights.
Meanwhile, the state permit is due to expire at the end of 2007. Newport News sought a five-year extension - to 2012 - from the State Water Control Board. In a major victory for reservoir foes, the board rejected the request on September 6, 2006. This means the city must reapply for the water-withdrawal permit, opening the project up to further scrutiny by the public.
