The James River Association has no legal right to challenge Virginia's trash-barge rules, a state lawyer argued yesterday.

John K. Byrum Jr., an assistant attorney general, said in Richmond Circuit Court that the environmental group was not sufficiently harmed by the barge rules.

The group therefore does not have "standing," or the right to sue, and their suit should be dismissed, Byrum said.

Lawyers for the group say a garbage spill on the James could hurt the group, which conducts tours on the river and runs educational programs on six riverside acres the group owns in Prince George County.

"The river is the key to their organization," said Deborah M. Murray, a lawyer for the group.

The group filed suit Sept. 22, saying the rules should be thrown out because the public was not told of a barge-rule deal between the state and a trash-hauling company.

During yesterday's 75-minute hearing, Judge Randall G. Johnson seemed skeptical of the notion that the group did not have a direct interest in the river's health.

Referring to the group's programs, Johnson asked, "What is tenuous about all that?"

The connection is "too remote" and not the "direct interest" the law requires to allow a suit, Byrum replied.

The hearing was held on Byrum's motions to dismiss the suit because of insufficient standing and because, Byrum says, the group's allegations do not indicate any law was broken.

Johnson said he hoped to make a ruling within 30 days.

Waste Management Inc., the trash hauler, is planning to barge trash up the James River to Charles City County. The new rules would regulate that barging.v

The state Waste Management Board, a citizen panel, adopted the rules July 25. The board set a $1-a-ton fee for barging trash and established a method for testing the barges' trash containers. Environmentalists had wanted a higher fee and tougher test.

Before the vote, the suit says, Virginia officials did not disclose details of a December 2002 deal between the state and Waste Management.

The deal was a confidential agreement to settle a lawsuit the company had brought against Virginia over barging restrictions. In the deal, the company agreed to pay the $1 fee, and state officials agreed to push for the container test environmentalists opposed.

During a comment period a few months later, about 2,500 people asked for a tougher test and a fee of $5 to $10 a ton.

"Without notice of the settlement, the public-comment period required by [state law] was a sham," the suit says.

The suit also claims the new rules violate a state law requiring the trash containers to be watertight. The rules say a container will be tested by filling it with 2 feet of water and checking for leaks. (That is the test spelled out in the deal.)

State officials say the rules are the toughest in the nation and were adopted legally.

Though the agreement was kept secret, its details emerged over several months last winter and spring, state officials say.

The terms of the deal were fully disclosed Aug. 10 in The Times-Dispatch. The disclosure outraged environmentalists.

The deal was approved by officials in the administration of Gov. Mark R. Warner, a Democrat, and the office of Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore, a Republican.

Also yesterday, Johnson ruled, over the river group's objection, to allow lawyers for Waste Management and Charles City to participate in the case. They support the regulations.

The James River Association is being represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center, a Charlottesville-based conservation group.

Contact Rex Springston at (804) 649-6453 or rspringston@timesdispatch.com

"Without tax reform, we stand to lose what we think we have accomplished" for environmental agencies, said W. Tayloe Murphy Jr., Warner's secretary of natural resources. "That is going to be the big issue."

Among his proposals, Warner wants to raise fees paid by businesses and localities for water-pollution and waste permits.

Before 2002, a factory paid $8,000 every five years for a permit to release treated wastewater into a stream. The fee had not been raised in at least a decade. The 2002 legislature increased that fee to $24,000 and raised fees for similar permits. A sunset provision would end those increases this June.

Warner is recommending that the five-year fee for a factory return to $8,000 but that an annual fee also be imposed, for a total five-year fee of $30,500. There would also be increases in fees to run sewage plants and build landfills.

Critics of the current structure say the fees should pick up more of the cost of running the state's permit programs. Before 2002, fees picked up 5 percent to 15 percent of the cost, and the public paid the rest. Under Warner's proposal, the increased fees would cover about 37 percent of costs.

The proposal could meet some resistance.

"There is not a great deal of excitement on the part of the business community to pay substantially higher fees," said Steve Haner, a Virginia Chamber of Commerce vice president.

Businesspeople are still learning budget details such as the fee increase, Haner said. "That would be one reason there is not a line forming to endorse the governor's tax plan."

Without new revenue from the fees or some other source, the state Department of Environmental Quality "will not have the money needed to implement our baseline environmental-protection programs," said Kathy Frahm, the DEQ's policy director.

But Haner said he thought the fee increase could be lessened if the DEQ operated more efficiently.

On another issue, Del. Robert G. Marshall, R-Prince William, said he will introduce a bill to raise the fee that Waste Management Inc. will pay to barge trash up the James River to Charles City County.

Waste Management and state officials made a controversial secret deal in December 2002 that settled a lawsuit the company had brought. Among the deal's provisions, the company agreed to pay a $1-a-ton fee for barging the trash.

During a comment period a few months later, many people, unaware of the deal, asked for a fee of $5 to $10 a ton.

The state Waste Management Board quickly adopted the $1 fee and other barge rules July 25 after a closed meeting that lasted nearly two hours. Terms of the deal were disclosed Aug. 8, outraging environmentalists and other critics, who called the comment period a sham.

Marshall said he probably will seek a fee of $5 to $7 a ton. He said he wants the debate conducted in public this time.

"What happened last time, with this negotiated agreement behind closed doors, I just find distasteful. I do not think the public interest was served," he said.

The secret deal was approved by Democrat Warner's administration and Republican Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore's office. Both offices say the barge rules are tough and legal.

General Assembly watchers expect to see, again, several proposals to give localities more control over sprawl.

One proposal would give localities the power to charge developers "impact fees" to offset the costs of providing services to new homes. Similar bills have found little success in past sessions, with legislators reluctant to give localities more power - and themselves less.

A group of about 25 localities, called the Coalition of High Growth Communities, seeks greater control over sprawl. The group includes Chesterfield, Henrico, Hanover, Goochland, New Kent and Powhatan counties.

Roger Wiley, a Richmond lawyer representing the group, said success will take time. "You try year after year, and each year we get a little more support."