I guess this was a tough one and don't feel so bad now. After researching and more searching it became obvious.
Even though the PIC16F677 has 256 bytes of EEPROM availble but I can't use it because it seems the compiler is trying to use EEPGD that is only used in the rest of the series... Don't use it!
The PIC16F685, 687, 689 & 690 are only around $0.25 more. Problem solved.