The concern over the Butler Area Sewer Authority's troubles with the state Department of Environmental Protection has focused mostly on the negative impact on residential construction this year.

But in recent days the area has gotten an unsettling reminder of what those troubles might mean from a bigger economic perspective than homebuilding — specifically, the impact on hundreds of potential jobs and, thus, the many hundreds of thousands — eventually millions — of dollars in potential tax revenue that is at stake.

The unsettling reminder surrounds the proposal of Cedarwood Development, Inc., of Akron, Ohio, to construct a 145,000-square-foot shopping plaza — Butler Crossing — and a 35,000-square-foot office building on 40 acres next to Butler Commons Shopping Center on New Castle Road in Butler Township.

Cedarwood, which wants to start work on the new shopping center next spring, hopes to open the plaza by spring 2008. But as a result of BASA's troubles with the DEP over the local authority's failure to meet the terms of a 2001 consent order by the end of last year, Butler Crossing unfortunately has been thrust into the realm of uncertainty — at least temporarily.

The uncertainty revolves around existing sewer line capacity and whether enough sewage taps will be available to accommodate the project.

As envisioned, Butler Crossing would result in 750 new, permanent jobs — jobs that not only would be part of the real estate and business tax pictures, but also representing a significant amount of income tax revenue.

The addition of a free-standing bank, 18,000 square feet of specialty shops and four restaurants as part of the overall plan would add to the Greater Butler economic-resource menu, helping the area avoid becoming stagnant in terms of attracting consumer interest from here and outside the area.

More jobs encourage more people to live here, rather than seek opportunities elsewhere. Thus, Butler Crossing has a broad range of potential positive economic impact — an impact that must not be ignored or regarded as dispensable.

With that in mind, BASA, much more than it has demonstrated in the past, must work on the premise that, while its main function is to provide sewage-treatment service within applicable laws and environmental regulations, what it does or doesn't do affects many people and opportunities outside the realm of its basic function.

This is an important era for the City of Butler and the rest of Butler County, and it must not be scuttled by this one important agency's inability to meet requirements that allow other aspects of the economy to function smoothly and, in fact, blossom.

The tough benchmarks and requirements listed in the new consent agreement between BASA and the DEP, adopted by BASA on Sept. 26, must therefore be met without fail, in order to avoid a repeat of what occurred earlier this year, with new housing and business construction virtually shut down because of BASA's failures and DEP's heavy-handed tactics geared toward ensuring that there will be no more BASA failures at fulfilling consent-agreement obligations.

BASA must not allow itself to become vulnerable to fines like it paid in 2006 for its compliance failures. Meanwhile, one penalty stipulated under the new consent agreement is "$25,000 for the first day, plus $200 per day thereafter, for each day after July 31, 2012, that one or more unpermitted discharges from the sanitary sewer overflow structures occur."

In 2005, stormwater infiltration, at the heart of BASA's problems, caused more than 31 million gallons of untreated sewage to overflow into the Connoquenessing Creek watershed.

Now, in the aftermath of the sewage tap-in moratorium that was in effect for most of this year for the authority and its member municipalities, it is to be hoped that the authority and those municipalities — and the DEP — will acknowledge all that is at stake for the Butler area and work cooperatively to minimize any harm that the sewage issue could bring to the local economy.

Residential construction suffered significantly this year because of the shutdown involving new tap-in permits. The area could suffer greater harm if potential developers, eager to move forward with ideas, start turning a cold shoulder to the city and its environs — and opting for other locales — because of the uncertainties tied to the current strained BASA-DEP relationship.

Over the long run, there will be benefits stemming from the currently strained relationship; the problems with the BASA system will be fixed.

But there is the potential for much to be lost — possibly forever — before that relationship is mended and the sewage problems resolved.

That is the most troubling aspect of the situation today.