CP photo: Jared Wickerham A horizontal well for a natural gas drilling site in Butler County On Jan. 24, oil-and-gas giant Energy Transfer shelled out some serious money to re-run one of their commercials during the NFL conference championship games. The commercial implies that oil and natural gas lines are necessary to keep tanker trucks off of roads and tanker train cars off of railways, “just to meet our energy needs.” The commercial posits underground pipelines as bucolic havens, and railroads and highways as dangerous. Highways are dangerous, and pipelines do have far fewer incidents compared to America’s roads. But any notion that pipelines are solely peaceful and perfectly safe comes tumbling down when confronted with reality.
Margaret J. Krauss / 90.5 WESA
In 2014, the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority spent $13 million dollars on its infrastructure, the pumps and pipes that make up its water and sewer systems. This year, PWSA’s board approved a capital budget of $233 million.
For decades the approach to maintenance at PWSA was “fix-as-fail,” said Edward Barca, the agency’s director of finance. In practice, that meant things literally had to fall apart to merit attention. That old mindset kept rates low, but it helped create a lead crisis and a deep backlog of very expensive maintenance.
“What we re looking to spend and put back into the system … it’s over a billion dollars over the next five years,” Barca said.
WHYY
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The DELCORA building in Chester (Google Maps)
Updated Tuesday, Jan. 19
A panel of administrative law judges has recommended that the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission toss out the pending $276.5 million sale and resulting privatization of Delaware County’s wastewater system, known as DELCORA, to Aqua Pennsylvania.
The PUC must sign off on the sale, and the panel’s recommendation is considered likely to carry weight in the final decision.
The two-judge panel cited Aqua Pennsylvania’s failure to establish how the deal benefits the public, the legality of the agreement, and the absence of a rate-stabilization plan in the application as reasons for its decision.
Judges panel recommends that Pa nix $276 million sale of Delco sewer system to Aqua inquirer.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from inquirer.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Press release content from Business Wire. The AP news staff was not involved in its creation.
Aqua Pennsylvania Reaches Agreement With East Whiteland Twp. to Purchase Municipal Wastewater Assets
January 13, 2021 GMT
BRYN MAWR, Pa. (BUSINESS WIRE) Jan 13, 2021
Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG) announced today that its Pennsylvania wastewater subsidiary has signed an asset purchase agreement with East Whiteland Township, Chester County to acquire the municipality’s wastewater assets for approximately $55 million. The pending transaction is subject to Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission approval.
East Whiteland Township’s wastewater system serves approximately 8,200 customer-equivalents including residential and commercial connections. The system is comprised of 57 miles of collection mains and 13 pump stations. The collection system accepts waste from the neighboring municipalities of Malvern Borough and Charlestown Township. Its waste passes through Aqua’s Valley Cre