Williams County commissioners vote to again deny a permit for water and wastewater lines for the Village of Pioneer.

After a two and a half hour administrative hearing…the Williams County commissioners vote unanimously to again deny a permit for water and wastewater lines for the Village of Pioneer. During the hearing, attorneys for AquaBounty…which has proposed constructing the lines from a private water supplier near Pioneer to supply up to 5 million gallons of water a day to a proposed salmon farm facility…argued they believe the lines constitute a public utility and should therefore be built. Property owners along the right of way in question, which runs along County Road S to the intersection of County Road 15, were also permitted to give comment. Eight property owners spoke up and all of them asked the commissioners to deny the permit. No one from the public spoke up in favor of the project. Under a plan developed between the company and the village a few months ago, AquaBounty would build the lines and then donate them to the village, which would own and maintain the lines. The village would not, however, provide any of the water in the lines.