One Butler Area Sewer Authority board member cleared the air at Tuesday's meeting on where he stands on the tank issue.

George Shockey, who owns an excavation company and who was recently elected as a Butler Township supervisor, said a letter to the editor printed Monday in the Butler Eagle was not true.

The letter was from fellow BASA board member Mike English, who has been fighting the board's decision and the recommendation by the authority's consulting engineer, Chester Engineers, on a tank design for the storage of raw sewage and stormwater.

English does not agree with the type of tank to be built, even though the BASA board approved Chester's specifications Sept. 28. He has been fighting to have those specifications changed.

In his letter, English said he and Shockey had "voted to keep the bidding open."

However, Shockey said Tuesday that he had wanted additional information on the tanks, but is now satisfied with Chester's recommendation.

"(English) implied that I was fighting with him, but I did my own due diligence and back the board's vote to go with Chester. I support the board's decision and Chester as our engineer," Shockey said.

He said its time English give up the fight.

"This thing has given us some press that we don't need when it comes to PennVEST (the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority) and the future," Shockey said.

PennVEST awards low-interest loans to help pay for infrastructure projects across the state.

Also in reference to English, the BASA board approved motion by board chairman Jerry Patterson that no board members would be involved in the independent review of Chester's plans by the KLH Engineers of Carnegie as part of the PennVEST application process.

KLH called the BASA board after English called KLH saying he wanted the firm to expand the scope of its investigation.

KLH officials said they had only been hired to review Chester's plans to see if they are appropriate for the tank project. If they are, BASA hopes it can receive some PennVEST money to help pay for the project.

Patterson said he made the motion to keep board members from the review process "because this is supposed to be an independent review, and board members shouldn't be involved in that."

The BASA staff and Chester engineers will meet with KLH next week to begin the review process.

Seven storage tanks are to be built in Butler and Butler Township to hold water and sewage from BASA's sanitary sewer lines that overflow during storms.

The tanks are expected to cost about $10 million to build with the whole project estimated at $30 million.