CHARLESTON, WV (WOAY) – The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has filed a petition to intervene and protest in the proposed sale of three Fayette County Public Service Districts to West Virginia American Water.
According to the document filed on December 12, the WVDEP is raising issues with some of the language and timing of payments contained in the purchase agreement and asks the West Virginia Public Service Commission to require the purchase agreement be revised to mandate repayment of certain state loans.
The WVDEP’s filing can be viewed in full at the bottom of this article.
The filing states that undisclosed loans or grants in the Asset Purchase Agreement are to be accounted for through a good-faith renegotiation between the parties to “account for the re-payment of the outstanding grants or loans owed to a funding agency.”
In the WVDEP’s eyes, that ” effectively allows the Parties to attempt shirk their repayment obligations to any funding agency not disclosed in the Asset Purchase Agreement. Thus, WVDEP, as a funding agency, protests the language within Section C because it contains, in its entirety, unreasonable terms and potentially adverse effects on the public in the form of lost payments currently owed to WVDEP and possible future litigation.”
The WVDEP further stated that the disclosure of debts in the asset purchase agreement is “incomplete and does not include certain debts owed to the WVDEP.” The WVDEP calculates the outstanding debt is in the amount of $7,744,063.78. According to the current purchase agreement filed with the West Virginia Public Service Commission, the purchase price is $13 million.
Kanawha Falls PSD chairman Jonathan Grose told Newswatch earlier this year that he believed not all the debt would be covered under the purchase agreement.
Grose stands by that opinion. In an interview with Newswatch today, he described Kanawha Falls PSD’s dealings with the county commission on the matter of outstanding debt.
“The Fayette County Commission did not ask enough of any financial numbers to validate the debt that was there until roughly 60 days ago, which would have been about 60 days after they had already signed the sales agreement and were ready to submit it to the Public Service Commission with West Virginia American Water,” Grose said.
In their petition, the WVDEP stated they had sent a letter to counsel for the county commission on September 5, 2025, detailing the debts owed and encouraging the county commission to contact personnel for details on paying off outstanding state revolving fund loans or bonds. As of the time of filing, the WVDEP says it has not received any correspondence from the county commission about the debt.
The debt in question is from the Clean Water Revolving Fund. In an email to Newswatch today, WVDEP chief communications officer Terry Fletcher summarized what the fund is.
Fletcher told us the funds come from a combination of Federal U.S. EPA dollars and state matching funds. Loan repayments support future projects, and the low-interest loans typically support public waste-water infrastructure projects.
In its filing, the WVDEP said federal law prohibits West Virginia American Water from holding certain loans, since it is not a public utility.
“The debt obligations mentioned above were used to provide financial assistance to the subject PSDs, which held the funds as publicly owned treatment works,” the filing said.
Both the Fayette County Commission and West Virginia American Water told Newswatch today that the debt in question is in fact covered by the purchase agreement.
“West Virginia American Water is aware of the debt, has proposed sufficient means to resolve the debt, and remains committed to working with all parties involved to find a solution for Fayette County residents,” a company spokesperson said.
In an email, County Commission President John Brenemen said that the county commission is unable to comment on every new filing, since the matter is in pending litigation. However, he reiterated that all debt is covered by the purchase agreement.
“It is the intent of the asset purchase agreement to cover all debts, disclosed or otherwise, where the county and/or public utility being purchased will not be repaying any money above what is received from the asset purchase agreement, in combination with anticipated depreciation of assets that were purchased with loans and/or grants, along with the state and federal government acting in the best interest of the citizens of the state,” Brenemen said in an email.
The county commission has consistently maintained that all debts are covered by the agreement.
You can review the WVDEP’s filing here:
dck20251215161234Micah Leith contributed to reporting in this story.
