King William Reservoir

One week ago tonight at this time I attended NNCC meeting to speak out against the KWR and to focus my purpose more on the need to reconsider all alternatives and the KWR in particular. I think the decision makers are so dead set on KWR, that for the last 15 years or more, no serious consideration has been made to meeting our future water needs.

I had prepared notes for my 5 minute public comment, but was unrehearsed and barely got half way through my notes which I have pasted below. I strayed some and lost my place more than once. Not much of a public speaker at this point, but think I will have ample opportunity to improve. Guess I will have to return to the second half of my comments next time I attend NNCC. Probably end of April. So much else I have to comment on, but would like to set the groundwork to establish that I want to cut through the misinformation that abounds on the proponents side. Need to terminate the KWR project before I can get our elected officials to consider the alternatives to massive population growth and sprawl as is used to justify the KWR in the first place. It is not about drinking water, it is about growth.

Here are my notes that although I stuck pretty close to the text, I only got half way through:

3/13/2007 NNCC Public Comment

Introduction: Robert Richardson, Resident James City County

I was asked to wear something green tonight and environmentalist that I am, this is what leapt to mind (green frog playtoy on shoulder).

My Purpose is this: I am here to speak out AGAINST the King William Reservoir Project

Why am I doing this? I am doing this to force the full reevaluation of our future water needs and to force the detailed examination of all the possible alternatives to meet these needs. This is my overall objective.

I have had to use the word “force” because in 10 years or more, I have seen no willingness to do so voluntarily.

Who am I “forcing”? I wish to force Newport News as represented here tonight by the City Council, Newport News Waterworks and the Regional Raw Water Study Group. These are “the powers that be” that represent the 400,000 or so Newport News Waterworks customers and ratepayers. These are very likely YOUR representatives, only from my perspective; they are not representing your best interests.

I do not think your elected officials (with few exceptions, Ms. McMillan in particular) are looking out for the citizen’s best interest. Instead, anyone supporting the KWR project is looking out for developers, industry and other commercial interests. This project will only continue the overgrowth and traffic congestion and pollution that we already experience. I do not think that is what you as a citizen either voted for or would vote for in the future. These are YOUR representatives taking us merrily down the path of the unknown – the King William Reservoir, never looking back.

To that end: I have started what I want to be true dialog, where time limits, word counts and proximity do not interfere.

Introducing: kwreservoir.info, and my King William Reservoir Blog. Visit now, visit often, become involved from your living room. K-W-R-E-S-E-R-V-O-I-R-.-I-N-F-O . .info for information, informative.

Since all focus is on the King William Reservoir, I must first torpedo that project before the powers that be will entertain any conversation of alternatives. As long as this is the case, my focus will be on opposing the King William Reservoir.

$25 million dollars has already been spent and there is very little to show for this. $40 million dollars in revenue bonds was just approved in February, with $10 million allocated for just this year.

Although Newport News will tell you they have all the required permits, and although this may be a “fact”, it is far from the “truth” of the matter. More about this “Veil of misinformation” later or online in my blog. The truth is that the three permits required and combined authorize no contruction on the reservoir for at least the next 3 and a half years. The only thing the VWP permit authorizes in increased spending of data collections, studies and reports all coming due at the end of 2010. Newport News just allocated $10 million dollars in February to carry them through just this year!

————– This is where my time ran out! —————

I have had to do very little digging to find a laundry list of concerns that I will be opening up for discussion. Concerns that lie just below the tranquil surface waters of the King William Reservoir Project as Newport News presents it.

My website (kwreservoir.info) will explore these concerns as I learn more about them and give the public an opportunity to do their own research to become better informed. It is their money that is funding this ill-conceived and expensive project, so I suspect the public might want to become more involved as they learn about the true expense of this project, monetarily and otherwise.

The Blog will also allow Newport News et al. to contribute their comments on these concerns, just as any citizen may.

I hereby personally invite, The Mayor, The Vice-Mayor, The City Manager, other members of this board as well as the Manager of Newport News Waterworks and other public officials to join the conversation on kwreservoir.info and to answer questions posed there by their constituents.

Misinformation, Facts, Fallacies, Lies, and the Truth:

In my mind, misinformation is just that, it becomes a lie when it is spread knowing it is not true. Then there are “Facts”. Facts are certainly “True”, but not necessarily “Truthful”.

Take for example the “Facts” stated on “The Official Website of the King William Reservoir Project” sponsored by your money. Although they may be “facts”, they are anything but truthful, and that is what counts. You can find more about this topic under “Fallacies, Misinformation and Lies” in my blog.

Here is a first hand story about the “veil of misinformation” (and lies) that Newport News tried to pass off on me a few weeks ago. It has to do with U.S. Copyright Law and what is commonly know as “Fair Use”. You can also follow this in my blog.

Director of Communications and Public Relations Story here.

I hold no animosity for these individuals, but don’t let them think that they will be able to lie to me and not have it become part of the record.

Thank you for your attention and interests in these matters. I look forward to returning and continuing this discussion both in person and community wide online.

Bob R

Spent Friday in Richmond attending the quarterly SWCB meeting, waiting for the public comment period where I was given 3 minutes to speak.

I wished to convey 2 points:

1) Confusion and discomfort with the unprecedented “Reconsideration” hearing that to me circumvented the established procedure for a “Formal Hearing” and ultimately led to the extension of the KWR required permit (VWP93-0902) deadlines from 12/2007 until 12/2010 - 12/2012.

2) My concern over recent Virginia legislation (HB3113/S1403) that would dissolve the SWCB and other citizen boards in favor of more centralized power. In my mind, these bills are directly related (in a political sense) to the initial SWCB decision at their September 2006 meeting to go against DEQ Staff Recommendations and deny Newport News et. al. an extension to their 10 year VWP permit. The 9/2006 decision would have required NN instead to go through full review and to renew their permit in 2007. These bills would allow major environment damaging projects such as the King William Reservoir to go through the permitting process with much less citizen input and fewer checks and balances in the process.

NN after 20 years working on this project and after 10 years holding the VWP permit, does not want to face renew at this time, preferring to dump millions more into data collection and reports.  These reports are meant to address the many many environmental concerns that have been raised in the last 20 years and which have lead to redesign of major components (dam & intake) of the project as well as threaten the feasibility of the project as a whole with a pumping hiatus that could last 4 months or more just when river water flow is at its highest and most needed to fill the reservoir for the summer.  Remember, this is not just “drinking water” as NN spins it, this is water for lawns, pools, gardens.  Also note that nearly 50% of our water use is for industry and other non-residential uses.

While sitting through the SWCB hearings, I learned one key bit of information. The SWCB only votes on the project presented to them as to if it meets the guidelines. They have no authority to require other, perhaps less environmentally damaging alternatives be considered.

So, if NN is going to consider alternatives, it will only be if the people paying NNWW bills and NN’s citizens tell them to do so. My purpose is this; get the citizens to take note of many drawbacks of the KWR and to insist that NN, NNWW, RRWSG go back to the drawing board and reevaluate all the alternatives.

Bob R.

“Thinking Globally, Acting Locally” or when using a Blog, “Thinking Locally, Acting Globally”

Finally after a week and a half, I got Newport News to demonstrate their understanding of Copyright/Fair Use and retract any policy contrary to those rights.

This afternoon, I heard from the Communications and Public Relations Director for Newport News. I was told that indeed I had Fair Use rights to anything produced by their NN/TV48.

I also got confirmation that there is no other written policy for which to get confused with the Cablecast policy (aka Tape Exchange Policy).

I was provided a copy of a 3/2/07 fax of a copy of the “Tape Exchange Policy” where it states that the locality providing video may determine if the video “shall be cablecast in their entirety, or if they may be edited or excerpted.” This was the policy that was wrongly quoted it was determined. Not sure what took so long to get it into my e-mail inbox. Think they were still studying Fair Use implications.

So, now I have NN on record acknowledging my fair use of their video productions. The 2006 KWR Video has so much misinformation, unfulfillable promises and outright lies that with only 5 minutes at a time at public comment, I will be able to keep criticizing this project for months to come.

Bob R.

“Thinking Globally, Acting Locally” or when using a Blog, “Thinking Locally, Acting Globally”

Well, 3 more days have gone by and my requests for copies of Policy have gone unacknowledged, let alone answered. So, I prompted NN Communications and Public Relations again as follows:

Dear XXXXXXXXX,

It has now been 3 full days since I last reminded you of my outstanding request(s) for a copy of the policies from which you are quoting as they existed 2/26/07 when YYYYYYYYY last quoted the “all or nothing policy”. I would like both the policy s/he quoted from (TV/Cable Policy) and the correct policy geared for the public. If you have had to update these policies to bring them in line with the “Fair Use” provisions of U.S. Copyright law as I pointed out to you, then I feel I should also be given a copy of the updated policy, the one I will ultimately have to abide by should I accept it.

I also am waiting on clarification that your prior explanation from last Friday is a global policy for all NN/TV48 productions and not just for the one 2006 KWR production.

Please demonstrate you now know what “Fair Use” is and that “Fair Use” grants my use of these very materials without any need to contact Newport News for permission.

These policies are all documents that should be under the control of the Director of Communications and Public Relations, and it should have been simply a matter of attaching them to an e-mail and sending it along to me. I have been waiting over a week, and you have left me with the strong impression you are being anything but truthful with me. Keep digging.

Bob Richardson

Bob

“Thinking Globally, Acting Locally” or when using a Blog, “Thinking Locally, Acting Globally”

Came across this collection of posters: http://library.fws.gov/posters/smallwhorled.pdf

I believe it is well known that there are several colonies of this Federally Endangered and threatened plant in the area to be flooded by the reservoir. This plant likes moist soil, but not that moist! The area is also at the far extent of the Mabee’s Salamander, which is listed as a threatened species in Virginia.  According to a news blurb I saw in the Gazette earlier, this species had delayed York County sports field development.

Good enough for the U.S. Marines, but not for the U.S. Corps of Engineers or the Virginia DEQ evidently with regard to KWR.

VA Fish and Wildlife knows about the Mabee’s Salamander.

If you know of any other Threatened or Endangered species (terrestrial) affected or likely to be affected by the King William Reservoir, please add a comment indicating so.

Bob

“Thinking Globally, Acting Locally” or when using a Blog, “Thinking Locally, Acting Globally”

Greetings, Following is a list of videos produced by (or for) Newport News that either deal entirely with the King William Reservoir Project or at least makes mention of such.  Does anyone have any of these in their possession? I would like to review all of them but at $15/DVD that adds up to too much money for one person. Anyone interested in starting a library of the more relevant ones, splitting the cost and making our own legal copies? ($15 is a copying fee).

Bob

“Thinking Globally, Acting Locally” or when using a Blog, “Thinking Locally, Acting Globally”

KWR – Where Do We Go from Here? (2006…the program you have)

07/29/05 KW Press Conference

04/28/04 Water Quality Report

03/17/04 Water, Use it Wisely

09/04/03 KWR Update

09/03 Water Treatment

? Message from Waterworks: Pipe Flush