We Saved the Mattaponi
Victory is Ours: We Saved the Mattaponi River
by Tyla Matteson
Our valiant efforts over the past 13 years to Save the Mattaponi have a happy ending. Newport News terminated their project to construct the proposed King William Reservoir.
Our story goes back to 1996 when the Sierra Club began the campaign to stop a giant and unneeded drinking water reservoir that would have flooded 430 acres of valuable wetlands in King William County and would break a 1677 treaty with the American Indians.
The same year, the Alliance to Save the Mattaponi was formed, with myself and Albert Pollard, then Virginia Chapter director, at the first meeting, along with Shirley “Little Dove” Custalow of the Mattaponi Tribe and several residents from King William and King & Queen Counties. Those at the first meeting were concerned the proposed reservoir was a done deal.
Over the following months and years, dozens of environmental groups and thousands of individuals joined the campaign, attending and speaking at hearings, sending letters and comments to decision makers, talking to supervisors in King William County and council members in Newport News.
Many will recall walking with the Mattaponi Indians and other tribal members, when over 600 individuals joined the Trail of Hope in Jamestown on May 15, 1999. We addressed each regulatory body along the way throughout the permitting process, with some wins and some losses.
The Corps of Engineers issued their permit to build the reservoir in 2005, and soon after, Sierra Club, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Southern Environmental Law Center and the Alliance filed a lawsuit, joined by the Mattaponi Tribe. Our opposition never wavered, and the breakthrough came on March 31, 2009, when a federal judge ruled the Corps permit “arbitrary and capricious” regarding harmful impacts to the wetlands and to the salinity of the Mattaponi River. The Corps suspended their permit, and on May 12, 2009, Newport
News suspended further work on the reservoir project, having spent almost $55 million over 22 years.
Newport News already runs five drinking water reservoirs, and to their credit, one recommendation is to now protect the watersheds of these reservoirs. We are confident future water needs will be met, as usage has flattened despite a larger population, and several viable alternatives are available. (Click here to read “A Survey of Sustainable Water Supplies in Virginia’s Lower Peninsula- Alternatives to the King William Reservoir Project, as prepared by Environmental Stewardship Concepts, a Richmond based consulting firm.)
Hundreds of individuals should be thanked for this victory. One in particular is Glen Besa, whose energy and direction were vital to bring us to this ending. Two others who began the fight are Peg Babyak, who lives at Whitehall on the Mattaponi and her daughter Dori Chappell.
For more details, contact me at tmatteson1@mindspring.com.
Photo credits: The Alliance to Save the Mattaponi, Lois Raimondo — The Washington Post, 2002, Clement Britt/Times-Dispatch,
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