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NFC: Fw: URGENT: Save the Mattaponi River, VA; Army Corps' decision

TAKE ACTION:  YOUR LETTERS ARE NEEDED BEFORE FRIDAY MAY 4, 2001.
Letters are needed now to support the US Army Corps of Engineers' 
recommended Record of Decision to deny a permit for the King William 
Reservoir.  The deadline for public comments is May 4, 2001.  Only 
those who submit comments during this period will be eligible to 
write comments in the next comment period. 

TAKE ACTION!  To submit a letter, visit 
http://www.amrivers.org/takeaction/default.htm or 
submit your own personalized letter to: Colonel Allan B. Carroll, 
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Norfolk District 803 Front Street, 
Norfolk, VA 23510-1096, fax: 757-441-7115, or e-mail: 
Allan.B.Carroll at usace_army.mil by FRIDAY MAY 4th, 2001.


BACKGROUND:

The City of Newport News, VA wants to build a reservoir on Cohoke 
Creek in King William County that would destroy more than 400 acres 
of forested wetlands and divert up to 75 million gallons of water per 
day from the Mattaponi River.  

The project would also harm the Mattaponi American Indian Tribe, 
which opposes the reservoir.  The Alliance to Save the Mattaponi 
believes this destructive project should not be built.  On March 20, 
2001, the Army Corps of Engineers issued a recommended Record of 
Decision denying Newport News a permit for reservoir. Virginia 
politicians and real estate developers are pressing hard to overturn 
the Corps recommendation. Here is why the reservoir should not be 
built:

THE WATER IS NOT NEEDED.
*     The water is not needed. The worst that will happen is that 
Newport News would need to limit lawn watering and car washing in the 
event of a severe drought. 
*     Future water requirements of Newport News and the Peninsula can 
be met through existing sources, conservation and less expensive and 
less destructive alternatives.

THE MATTAPONI AMERICAN INDIAN TRIBE WOULD BE IRREPARABLY HARMED.
*      Fishing for shad is not only necessary for subsistence, but 
also an integral part of the Mattaponi Indian culture, practiced 
continuously for over 15,000 years along the banks of the river, 
which bears their name. By diverting large quantities of fresh water 
from the tidal river, salt water from the Chesapeake Bay will move 
upstream, endangering the shad spawning grounds and the last of the 
Mattaponi living culture. 
*     The reservoir would fall within a three mile buffer zone, 
violating the 1677 treaty, and flood over 100 documented 
archaeological sites, as well as land that is sacred to the Mattaponi 
People.

THE DAMAGE TO THE ENVIRONMENT CANNOT BE MITIGATED.
*     The King William Reservoir would destroy 1,526 acres of a 
highly diverse upland/wetland system including more than 400 acres of 
forested wetlands.
*     The reservoir would destroy animal habitat including a 17-nest 
great blue heron rookery and disturb two federally listed threatened 
plant species, the sensitive joint vetch and the small whorled 
pogonia.
*     The massive water withdrawals from the Mattaponi River may 
change the river's salinity, threatening fish like shad and the 
river's basic ecology.
*     The plan submitted by Newport News would not fully mitigate 
these losses and falls far short of the 2 to 1 replacement acreage 
goal for wetlands mitigation.

HOW YOU CAN HELP! 

1) Take action at http://www.amrivers.org/takeaction/default.htm or 
use this fact sheet to email or fax the Corps of Engineers (unless 
you can mail a letter to be received by the deadline). The deadline 
for comments is May 4, 2001.  Please use the fact sheet to write a 
letter to the Corps or simply submit the following letter, although 
personalized letters are appreciated.  Submit to:
Colonel Allan B. Carroll, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Norfolk 
District 803 Front Street, Norfolk, VA 23510-1096, fax: 757-441-7115, 
or e-mail: Allan.B.Carroll at usace_army.mil by FRIDAY MAY 4th, 2001.

2) For more information, go to http://www.savethemattaponi.org or 
contact Pat DeZern (804-225-9113) with the Sierra Club or Ginette 
Smith (804-769-4226) with the Alliance to Save the Mattaponi or e-
mail us at savethemattaponi at prodigy_net .  The Army Corps of 
Engineers' Record of Decision and related documents may be seen on 
the Corps website at http://www.nao.usace.army.mil/Regulatory/PN/KWR-
ROD/KWRPN.htm


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restore America's rivers.

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