The utility’s water board recently approved a rate increase for the spring that is unrelated to the permit, he said. “The legal expenses are far less than the additional financial burden these unnecessary requirements would cause our customers to pay in the form of higher rates.” “We have a responsibility to manage our customers’ costs,” he said. The changes baked into the permit, he said, could lead to “even tighter requirements” when the permit is up for renewal in five years. Vic Burchfield, a senior vice president with the utility, said in a statement it could cost more than $10 million to pay for the projects needed to comply with the new permit requirements, and he’s wary this would likely just be beginning. The utility appealed the agency’s decision last week. That tally does not include legal bills paid before King & Spalding was hired or for payments made since October.īut the utility’s legal maneuvers and threat of a legal challenge did not stop state regulators from signing off last month on a permit with the tougher water quality regulations. Over the course of a year and a half, from last May through mid-October, the Columbus Water Works paid the firm about $411,000 to represent them in the latest chapter of its years-long negotiations with the state agency. The public utility has hired outside legal help over the years to push back on the permit, and last summer, it enlisted a high-powered Atlanta law firm, King & Spalding, in its fight with the state agency. A public records request, produced with the assistance of a new law clinic, revealed that the utility is spending significant amounts of public funds to challenge water quality requirements. Its previous permit expired in 2015.īut challenging the permit has a cost, too.
The Columbus Water Works has cited the cost to comply with the new water quality requirements as at least part of the reason for its long-standing objections to a state permit that has been in limbo for years. Credit: Henry Jacobs/Chattahoochee RiverkeeperĪ middle Georgia public utility has spent years fighting a new state permit that would impose more limits on pollution flowing from the sewer system into a popular stretch of the Chattahoochee River known for its fishing and whitewater rafting.
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