BASA preparing to respond to appeal of sale
In response to an appeal of the state-approved sale of Butler Area Sewer Authority to Pennsylvania American Water, the authority intends to highlight the benefits the sale will provide the community and the transparency of the transaction.
Supervisors of Center and Summit townships voted earlier this month to appeal the $230-million sale of all BASA assets to the water company.
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission approved the sale in a 3-2 vote in November. Butler and Butler Township will split the $230 million if the sale survives the appeal process.
“We continue to work toward closing the sale. That means taking time now to prepare our response to the townships’ appeal,” BASA said in a statement. “We are fully prepared to defend this agreement in court, because we remain confident that this unique sales agreement generates significant community benefits, establishes strong ratepayer protections, enhances local environmental protections, and preserves the jobs and benefits for BASA employees — all facts to which even the state’s consumer and small business watchdogs agreed.
“We have been open and transparent every step of the way during this process, and we will continue to share information with residents as this process continues and defend the merits of this agreement until it is final.”
BASA serves customers in the two municipalities, plus Center, Summit, Penn and Oakland townships, East Butler and Connoquenessing. Supervisors at Center and Summit townships have contested the sale since Butler and Butler Township entered confidential negotiations with the water company, which first proposed buying BASA in 2021.
The PUC approved the sale despite an administrative law judge’s recommendation to deny the sale due to the cost to BASA customers.
In their appeal to Commonwealth Court, Center and Summit townships cite the recommendation and the court’s overturning of a similar sale involving a Chester County sewer system earlier this year.
The court ruled in July the PUC “erred and/or abused its discretion” in July 2022 when it approved the sale of East Whiteland Township’s sewage system to Aqua Pennsylvania Wastewater.
