Virginia.

The Walt Disney Co.'s plan to build a $650 million theme park in Haymarket, Va., is attracting increased natioanal scrutiny because it would affect a major historic region.

The public lands, national parks, and forests subcommittee of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee holds hearings today on whether Disney's America project would hurt nearby Civil War battle sites.

Last week, 15 congressmen led by Rep. Michael Andrews, D-Texas, introduced a resolution opposing the project. The site in Virginia's Piedmont area "is dear to the hearts of all Americans and inextricably bound to the nation's formation from the Colonial Period through the American Revolution, the Federal Period, and the years leading to the Civil War," the resolution said.

The congressional action comes only three months after Virginia enacted legislation authorizing the issuance of $131.4 million of revenue bonds of finance road improvements that would serve the project.

"The congestion, overdevelopment, pollution, burden on utilities, and the encroachment on 38 historic districts and 32 Civil War battlefields make this far more than just a local issue," the congressmen said in a statement.

The congressional group includes Jim Leach, R-Iowa; Pete Stark, D-Calif.; Bob Torricelli, D-NJ.; John Lewis, D-Ga.; and Stephen Horn, R-Calif.

Andrews also called on the Interior Department to analyze the environmental impact of the major road changes required by the project.

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