Sep. 5--The invitation-only, moderated meeting today of stakeholders in the dispute over how much water Appalachian Power Co. should release from Smith Mountain Lake apparently is legal. But it isn't fair.

Not to the 2,000-plus lake residents and people downstream who showed up at a public hearing last month to air complaints about water levels, everyone's concerns heightened by drought. If today's discussions are successful, they will affect the water-release protocol the power company will write into its relicensing request for the hydroelectric project.

Virginia's Department of Environmental Quality, which made up the guest list and sent the invitations, says it is not hosting today's meeting, but will summarize the comments and write a response, all of which will be made public in coming months -- sometime before they are sent to the State Water Control Board, the ultimate decision-maker.

The DEQ should go one better and release a transcript of today's meeting-- or, better yet, a recording, as quickly as possible.

The state agency deserves praise for staging the talks, with someone from the University of Virginia's Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service moderating, after leaders of various interest groups said they needed such a format to try to reach a consensus before the permitting process goes forward.

That clearly makes sense. Last month's public hearing allowed plenty of comment that inevitably pitted lake residents' interests against those of people along the Staunton River downstream. The input is invaluable, but leaders trying to work out a formula everyone can live with don't need to hear it all again.

Still, anyone who wanted to listen to today's talks should have been able to go and hear. A quickly produced transcript or audio recording would be the next best thing.

One invited participant said he thought the closed meeting would encourage a freer discussion, with no one fearful of being quoted in the newspaper the next day. But community leaders should be able to articulate constituents' concerns and be unafraid to reconcile differences publicly.

Shutting the public out of the discussion will only undermine credibility if people are unhappy with the results.

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