The ALCOSAN bill is for treating sewerage. The amount of sewerage is based on the amount of water used. PB claims that ALCOSAN wants to charge them for treatment to water that never went into the sewers, it left the building as the primary ingredient of beer.
City authority wants to turn off faucet to Pittsburgh Brewing
Friday, July 18, 2003
By Len Boselovic, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority has asked a county judge to dissolve a court order preventing the agency from terminating service to Pittsburgh Brewing because of more than $3 million in unpaid bills.
The Lawrenceville brewer obtained the injunction in December after receiving a termination notice from the authority. The parties agreed to negotiate a settlement after Pittsburgh Brewing promised to pay monthly water bills on time.
But while the brewery has generally lived up to that promise, it has not paid its ongoing sewage bills, said Clifford Levine, PWSA's attorney. That has put the brewery further into debt with the authority, Levine said yesterday.
The PWSA filed the motion to dissolve the injunction after the brewery failed to sign a draft settlement agreement sent to it in mid-May. Levine said the brewery's response to the motion was to ask for more discussions.
"If there was some issue that had not been discussed, we would do that. We need to move on already," he said.
In court papers, Levine said the brewery's "strategy appears to be to stall and delay the inevitable."
Pittsburgh Brewing and its attorney, Robert Lampl, could not be reached for comment.
The brewery has conceded it owes $1.5 million in water bills, but is contesting the sewage charges. Those total between $1.8 million to $1.9 million, according to Levine.
The dispute dates to 1996 and is only one of several bill-paying problems that have plagued the brewery since an investment group brought it out of bankruptcy in 1995.