Bay Foundation can challenge King William reservoir

An environmental group is being allowed to challenge a state decision that aided plans for a much-debated reservoir in King William County.

A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals of Virginia has overturned a 2007 Richmond Circuit Court decision that barred the group, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, from pursuing the challenge.

The Richmond court said the group did not have the legal right to mount the challenge. The appeals court said the group did.

The group is challenging a State Water Control Board decision in 2006 that gave Newport News more time to conduct state-required studies for the $235 million reservoir.

That decision allowed Newport News to move forward with the project.

The bay group contends the water board illegally shut the public out of its decision by not holding a comment period before the meeting. State officials say the board's action was legal.

Newport News wants to develop the reservoir to provide drinking water for a growing Peninsula population. Opponents say the lake would inundate valuable wetlands, among other objections.

The appeals court made its ruling Nov. 4, according to the bay group, which announced the decision today. Contact Rex Springston at (804) 649-6453 or .