Houston pipeline firm sues North Union Township over road work

A Houston-based operator of natural gas pipelines has accused a Fayette County township of accepting $50,000 to pave a road, then failing to do the work.

Texas Eastern Transmission said in a civil lawsuit that it gave North Union $50,000 in 2011 to pave Ainsley Road and install a catch basin at the entrance to Steve's Restaurant Appliance and Food Preparation Equipment.

Texas Eastern wanted to help cover paving costs because the business owner, Stephen Laskey, put partial blame for stormwater flooding on the road's condition, according to the lawsuit. Texas Eastern uses the road to access a rented storage area.

North Union cashed the check but never improved the road, according to the lawsuit. When the flooding didn't stop, Laskey named Texas Eastern and the township in a 2011 civil lawsuit.

Laskey on Wednesday said the flooding grew worse when the township built a park, ballfield and parking lot along the road.

“I've lost probably $500,000 in equipment in the last two to three years,” Laskey said.

None of the township's three supervisors returned a phone call seeking comment.

Texas Eastern, via a cross-claim filed on Wednesday in the 2011 lawsuit, is seeking a judge's order requiring North Union to pay its attorneys' fees. It contends it never should have been named in the lawsuit because it gave North Union the $50,000 to fix the road.

Laskey, whose company repairs specialty blenders, isn't waiting any longer for the lawsuit to end. Citing it and a separately filed eminent domain claim against the township and the Redevelopment Authority of Fayette County, he said he is leaving Fayette for neighboring Westmoreland County.

“I can't work here anymore,” Laskey said, describing plans to move his business and staff of five to Mt. Pleasant Township.

“Without question, I am never coming back to Fayette County,” Laskey said. “I would never put another business in Fayette County, if it was the last place on earth.”

In the eminent domain filing, Laskey blames the township and the authority for some of the flooding, pinning its cause on alleged improper stormwater management at the park, ball field, road and an authority-operated industrial park.

Andrew French, redevelopment authority director, could not be reached for comment.

Laskey said the flooding has been unresolved for so long that the area is now considered a federally protected wetland. He said he had hoped to expand his business at the Fayette location, but the property is now worthless.

“It's cost me tens of thousands of dollars, for nothing,” Laskey said. “We're leaving.”

Thomas Earhart is a Murrysville attorney who represents Laskey and another business owner, Ronald L. Gallo, with similar flooding problems on Ainsley Road.

Gallo could not be reached for comment, but said in his lawsuit he ran a heating oil business, starting in 1994, on a 12-acre parcel he purchased from the Redevelopment Authority for $14,500.

Persistent flooding at the site expanded a one-acre pond to four acres on Gallo's property. In the lawsuit, he said he fears he could be held criminally accountable, should stormwater flooding dislodge concrete bunkers and steel tanks holding flammable liquids.

Earhart said the flooding forced Laskey and Gallo to abandon their properties.

“These businesses are being pushed out,” Earhart said. “And the problem is only going to get worse.”

Liz Zemba is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 412-601-2166 or lzemba@tribweb.com.