Pioneer mounts defense, files 3rd party complaint

Pioneer Rural Water has mounted a defense and filed a complaint of its own against the Joint Regional Sewer Authority, one of its legal adversaries in the Common Pleas Court.  And, meantime, the court has set the morning of Thursday next week in Anderson for a judge to hear Pioneer’s challengers make their case for a preliminary injunction.  Pioneer’s attorneys are accusing Seneca, Westminster, Oconee County, and the Joint Regional Sewer Authority of “unlawfully attempting to prevent Pioneer from completing construction of and operating a waterworks facility authorized under Pioneer’s enabling statute, of which facility Plaintiffs and OJRSA have been aware for years.”  It further alleges that Seneca and Westminster have colluded by subjecting Pioneer customers to “indefensible increases in (wholesale) water prices between 2008 and 2012.  Pioneer’s court papers say the increases amount overall to 174%.  Furthermore, Pioneer claims, that a review by the South Carolina Office of Regulatory Staff found that a water plant would allow Pioneer to permanently have its own source of water.  “This,” it says, “would enable it to end the practice of being subject to rate increases to support expansion of other water utilities (i.e., Seneca and Westminster) when the expansion program provides no or very little benefit to Pioneer’s ratepayers.”  Among legal grounds Pioneer alleges are civil conspiracy, breach of the state’s Unfair Trade Practices Act, and tortious interference with contract.  It claims that for each week the project is delayed, Pioneer expects to incur damages of $35 thousand under its contract with the Harper Corporation; Pioneer will incur an estimated $2,721,611 in damages that would result from a 90-day suspension of work.  And, if it’s forced to terminate the construction, Pioneer claims it will incur an estimated $893,518 in damages if it is forced to terminate construction.  For its part, Pioneer wants the court to require Oconee County to immediately issue a building permit for the project; for the Joint Regional Sewer Authority to approve the construction of a DHEC-approved septic system for the plant; and for actual, consequential, special damages to be determined by the court. By the noon hour today, according to General Manager Terry Pruitt, his office expects to have Pioneer’s filings, complete with exhibits, available for viewing on its website www.pioneerwater.net.