Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times

The community of Eggleston in Giles County is one of the older communities on the river. Now newer structures are showing up along the river.

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Last March, when U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., introduced legislation to extend the federal government's Wild and Scenic designation of the New River 16 miles into Virginia, he thought he was doing a good thing.

"I believe that extending this designation to protect the river as it repeatedly crosses between North Carolina and Virginia will benefit the region both environmentally and economically," he said in a written statement.

His neighbors across the state line weren't so sure, though, and the debate that ensued presents a main issue in the continuing discussion of the river's future: Government officials have differing opinions not only on land use, but also on what designations such as the federal Wild and Scenic program actually mean and how the programs should be administered.

Ralph Tuggle, chairman of the Grayson County Board of Supervisors, was among those who called on Virginia's congressional delegation to head Burr off at the border.

For four years, Grayson County has been working with Independence and the North Carolina communities of Allegheny County and Sparta to create an interstate regional water system. Tuggle is convinced a federal designation for that section of the river would doom the water project.

"Had it been designated Wild and Scenic, all federal money for this regional water system would have been unavailable," Tuggle said. "As soon as it becomes Wild and Scenic, no federal funds could be used for anything that would affect the river."

That's not exactly true, according to George Santucci, executive director of the National Committee for the New River.

"It doesn't mean it would stop a federal project. It just means a little more scrutiny and a little more red tape and that sort of thing," Santucci said of the federal designation. "I think a real savvy county would capitalize on it and make money off it, really."

U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, said that -- the Wild and Scenic designation aside -- Burr went about the potential expansion in the wrong way.

Boucher said Burr should have talked with Virginia's senators and with Boucher, whose district includes that stretch of river, before introducing the bill. There should have been a study to determine the bill's potential effects. None of that happened, Boucher said.

Though Burr talks about his legislation moving forward, Boucher predicts it won't move far. Both Virginia senators are against it. Boucher's against it. There's no companion legislation in the House.

"The best thing to do at this point is to start from scratch," Boucher said.