Pioneer trial to take place August 28

 

A trial will apparently settle the controversy over whether Pioneer Rural Water has the right to go forward with its treatment plant project.  A judge in Anderson today ordered the attorneys on all sides to come up with a satisfactory date.  Among three dates, they agreed on the week of August 28 in Oconee County.  The judge is likely to be the Hon. Lawton McIntosh, who is scheduled to preside over court that week in Walhalla.  This morning McIntosh entertained plaintiffs’ motions for a declaratory judgment and an injunction, but he announced no immediate decision.  It was obvious from this morning’s hearing that McIntosh wanted a trial date soon to settle all matters. One of the key parts of today’s hearing dealt with opinions by the Attorney’s General Office which Pioneer’s adversaries see as a red flag for the treatment plant project.  Another was an interpretation of the statute that created Pioneer Rural Water in 1965 and whether its language allows Pioneer to make its own water.  The key there appears to be the interpretation of whether the word “waterworks” means Pioneer is free to treat its own water.  Pioneer believes, in the long run, a treatment plant and its associated costs is a better financial venture than if it continues to buy water wholesale from Seneca and Westminster.  The two cities are trying to protect their wholesale arrangements with Pioneer.  The county of Oconee and the Joint Regional Sewer Authority have aligned with the cities as they, as explained by their lawyers, are retail water customers of Pioneer and fear Pioneer’s rates once a treatment plant is built will cause them financial harm.