The Virginia Marine Resources Commission had a stack of 209 comments regarding Caroline County’s request to construct a water intake facility along the Rappahannock River, a project that would withdraw up to 9 million gallons of water per day.
A total of 206 of those comments opposed the request; three were neutral, and none were in favor of it.
However, a large majority of the dissension predated the Caroline Board of Supervisors’ resolution removing the term “industrial cooling” from its Virginia Department of Environmental Quality permit request.
The DEQ approved Caroline’s withdrawal permit last November, and on Tuesday morning, following a public hearing, the VMRC voted 8-0 to approve the county’s request to construct the water intake facility on the south bank of the river on land the county obtained from farmer Cory Garrett by eminent domain.
The VMRC acknowledged environmentalists’ concerns but reiterated that most of their issues are related to the DEQ permit, and its only job was to determine if the intake facility would cause harm to the river.
Caroline Director of Public Utilities Joey Schiebel reiterated to the commission that the request would only serve residents and businesses in the growing county — not data center cooling — which was a major point of contention for environmentalists and members of the commission.
“Nobody wants to go thirsty, and every human being should have the right to some good drinking water,” said VMRC member Thomas Preston, a Westmoreland County native. “At the end of the day, you guys are looking out for the county. I appreciate it.”
Preston did express concerns that no residents, and only Caroline government officials, spoke out in favor of the permit request at the hearing.
He also questioned the urgency of the request after opponents mentioned that the General Assembly allocated $800,000 last year for the Virginia Institute of Marine Science to study the impact of surface water withdrawals on state waterways. That report is due in the fall of 2028.
“Why would we not wait two years until we have the results of a study that we have funded that would give us a comprehensive assessment of what these impacts will be?” said Spotsylvania County resident Brent Hunsinger, who represents Friends of the Rappahannock.
Alana Hutka, who spoke in opposition while representing the Rappahannock Tribe, also cited the pending study, and the “unknown impacts of treaty-protected species.” Earlier this month, a Richmond County Circuit Court judge declined to dismiss the Rappahannock Tribe’s appeal of the DEQ’s decision to grant the permit.
Mattaponi Tribe Environmental Director Tammy Heath said her tribe voices “strong opposition” to Caroline’s plans because it calls for an inter-basin transfer into the Mattaponi.
“Any threat to the river is a direct threat to our people, our culture’s survival,” Heath said.
But VMRC officials displayed a presentation that showed comments from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, one of the largest marine research and education centers in the U.S. that advises the VMRC. Those comments held that the impact of Caroline’s plans on the watershed would be minimal.
There will be screens around the facility that allow an intake velocity of only 0.25 feet per second. Instream construction won’t be permitted from Feb. 15 through June 30.
The Department of Wildlife Resources also chimed in and noted that Caroline agreed to in-stream work restrictions from April 15 through June 15 and Aug. 15 through Sept. 30 to protect freshwater mussels. The department also recommended a freshwater mussel survey and relocation be completed no more than six months prior to the beginning of construction instream, 100 meters upstream, and 400 meters downstream.
VMRC staff recommended approval of the permit based on Caroline following those conditions, and that was part of VMRC Commissioner Will Bransom’s motion that was approved unanimously.
Caroline Supervisor Jeff Sili spoke at the hearing, noting that the Town of Bowling Green’s water system is impacted by gross alpha levels more than twice what the state allows for drinking water.
Schiebel informed the commission that Caroline began working on a plan to withdraw from the Rappahannock 20-plus years ago. Sili said the Eastern Virginia Groundwater Management Area set capacity limits for the aquifer the county relies on for drinking water, and that limit is likely to be reduced in the future.
Schiebel displayed a timeline that showed the county first filed an application in March 2005 and commissioned a fisheries study and final report in 2008. Schiebel said there was no activity on the project from 2008-2015 because a nationwide recession slowed down residential growth. In 2016, the county updated its water master plan and completed the development of a salinity model in 2018.
“In my three decades with Caroline County, I’ve never seen a project more important to the long-term stability and resilience of our water system than the Rappahannock intake project,” Schiebel said. “This project represents a crucial investment in Caroline County’s water security and our ability to serve current and future generations.”
The county conducted its first public meeting on the project in October 2019, five months after a pre-application meeting with regulatory agencies. The application was resubmitted in March 2020 with a VIMS river model analysis report completed in 2023, just before the Town of Bowling Green updated a letter of support for the project.
Public hearings began in 2024, as the county was met with much resistance from environmental groups and lawmakers such as State Sen. Richard Stuart (R-Westmoreland), who later supported the project after the county removed industrial cooling from the permit.
The county explored several other options for water stability, but determined withdrawal from the Rappahannock was the most feasible. Officials learned that if they didn’t take any action, there would be continued strain on groundwater resources; water conservation would not meet anticipated needs; purchasing water from adjacent utilities was too expensive with insufficient capacity; and the Potomac River is too far, too expensive, and there’s too much salinity for drinking water. According to Schiebel’s presentation, the county’s proposal would take 0.5% of the water from the Rappahannock, leaving 99.5%.
VMRC board member Jeanette Edwards said she can’t support having Caroline officials redo their plans after so much effort went into the proposal.
“I appreciate everybody’s side and where they’re coming from, but I do appreciate the planning for the constituents and the people of [Caroline], because if you don’t plan, you will wait and there will be an emergency at some point,” Edwards said. “I think careful consideration has been put into this.”
