Pipeline Path Includes Courtroom

Written by Greg Stotelmyer

Monday, 09 November 2009 19:09

The $162 million dollar project to increase Kentucky American's water supply capacity by 20 million gallons a day is 70 percent complete, yet the legal challenges continue. A small group of citizens, Citizens for Alternative Water Solutions, are asking a Franklin Circuit Judge to rule on whether the Kentucky Public Service Commission made a mistake when it game the private water company the green light to build the 31 mile, 42 inch pipeline from the Kentucky River in Owen County to Lexington. Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd heard oral arguments in the case Monday afternoon, but did not give a timeline on when he will issue a ruling. While the citizens had two lawyers, ten lawyers sat on the other side of the courtroom, with Kentucky American gaining the support of the PSC, the Attorney General, Lexington Urban County government and an area water supply consortium.

"It is not enough to say here's your new toy," Tom Fitzgerald, the citizens' attorney told the judge of the PSC's decision to allow the pipeline project. "Here's your 50 percent increase in the customers' rate and oh, by the way, when you get around to it would you do some conservation and do some leak detection. That has to proceed the approval of new capacity because unless you've done those things we don't know what the need is.
"Fitzgerald said Kentucky American has "over hyped" the demand, calling the project a "poster child of wasteful duplication."
The private company's attorney, Lindsey Ingram III told the judge the pipeline is "the best solution."
"You've got a real water supply problem when we're at capacity now," said Ingram. "That is what this case is about your honor, a 20 percent increase in population growth."
Among the handful of citizens involved in the suit was Chris Schimmoeller. The Franklin County resident, who was in the courtroom, said "the system has failed the public." She agrees with Fitzgerald's claim this is "more empire building than a regional solution."
"Kentucky American is a for-profit company and they seek to improve their bottom line over all else," alleged Schimmoeller.
That claim was disputed by a spokesman for the water company.
"Lexington's water needs are always our first interest, not our shareholders, okay," said Ray Golden of Kentucky American.
Fitzgerald says if the courts agree with the citizens he hopes it would force the shareholders of the private company to foot the bill instead of the customers

Subscribe RSS

Bookmarks

Email This

Trackback ( 0 )
Trackback Link for This Article

Comments (0)

Your Comment

Name*
Email*
Website
Title*
UBBCode	B i u Quote Code List List item Img URL
Comment*
	0 Characters
Verify Code*
Notify me when new comment post on this article.
I have read and agree to Term and Agreement By submitting your comments ABC 36 we reserve the right, at our sole discretion, delete, or deny approval of your comments for any reason at any time without further notice. We do not rent, sell, or exchange your name, personal information, or email address to third-party companies for their marketing purposes. Please allow up to 24 hours for your post to be approved. Thanks from ABC 36 for your comment on our site wtvq.com

< Prev		Next >

Recent Articles by Greg Stotelmyer :

Latest News on the Gulf Oil Spill

To view this site, you need to have Flash Player 8.0 or later installed. Click here to get the latest Flash player.

Latest photos of the spill