64
Opinion of the Court
was designed to improve water quality for Fairfax County residents. Several Maryland officials opposed Virginia's construction proposal, arguing that it would harm Maryland's interests by facilitating urban sprawl in Virginia. In late 1997, the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) refused to issue the permit, holding that Virginia had not demonstrated a sufficient need for the offshore intake. This marked the first time Maryland had denied such a permit to a Virginia entity. Virginia pursued MDE administrative appeals for more than two years, arguing at each stage that it was entitled to build the water intake structure under the 1785 Compact and the Black-Jenkins Award. In February 2000, Virginia, still lacking a permit, sought leave to file a bill of complaint in this Court, which we granted on March 30, 2000.4 Ultimately, the MDE's "Final Decision Maker" determined that Virginia had demonstrated a sufficient need for the project. In 2001, Maryland finally issued the permit to FCWA, but only after the Maryland Legislature attached a condition to the permit requiring FCWA to place a permanent flow restrictor on the intake pipe to limit the amount of water that could be withdrawn from the River, 2000 Md. Laws ch. 557, § 1(b)(2)(ii). See Lodging Accompanying Reply by Virginia to Maryland's Exceptions to Report of Special Master L-336 to L-339 (hereinafter Va. Lodging) (permit issued to FCWA).
In October 2000, while Virginia's permit request was pending, we referred Virginia's bill of complaint to Special Master Ralph I. Lancaster, Jr. Virginia sought a declaratory judg-4 This case marks the second time Virginia sought leave to file an original action against Maryland concerning Potomac River rights. See Virginia v. Maryland, 355 U. S. 269 (1957) (per curiam). In the earlier fray, the Special Master persuaded the States to settle their dispute. They entered into a new compact, which superseded the 1785 Compact but specifically preserved the rights delineated in Article Seventh. See Potomac River Compact of 1958, 1959 Md. Laws ch. 269; 1959 Va. Acts ch. 28; Pub. L. 87-783, 76 Stat. 797.
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