U.S. Water News Online
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Attorney General Darrell McGraw's office is investigating a possible intervention in Thames Water's buyout of West Virginia-American Water Co.
The state Public Service Commission has been weighing the British company's buyout for 10 months, and has already placed certain restrictions on the sale: No rate hikes until January 2004. No layoffs until April 2004. Corporate offices must stay in West Virginia.
``The PSC could issue a decision any day,'' said Managing Deputy Attorney General D.L. Hamilton. ``Time is of the essence.''
Thames is a subsidiary of RWE Aktiengesellschaft, based in Essen, Germany, which has offered to pay $4.6 billion in cash, or $46 per share, to acquire West Virginia-American's parent company, American Water Works, based in Voorhees, N.J.
RWE took over Thames Water in 2000, and now wants to make American Water Works, the largest publicly traded U.S. water company, a subsidiary of Thames.
West Virginia-American serves 500,000 customers in 15 West Virginia counties.
The attorney general started looking into Thames Water after questions about the company's environmental record in Britain were raised earlier this month, Hamilton said.
The attorney general's office is looking at international trade treaties that may have jurisdiction over the deal and user rights vs. common-law riparian rights, Hamilton said.
``We don't want anyone to get control over West Virginia's water,'' she said.
In Kentucky, the Public Service Commission is reconsidering its May decision to approve the sale because it wasn't aware the company created Thames Water Aqua Holdings U.S. to hold all the stock.
The Kentucky PSC also is studying the qualifications of Thames Water U.S., and whether it is in the public interest to let Kentucky-American Water Co. sell.
``We are in communication with them regarding that issue,'' Hamilton said.
The Kentucky attorney general, the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government and Bluegrass FLOW -- a citizens' group headed by former Kentucky Gov. Ned Breathitt -- have all filed lawsuits in circuit court to stop the sale.
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