From Deseret News archives:
Questar fight going to top
2 Utahns will ask court to void accord on costs
On Monday, Roger Ball, the former executive director of the Utah Committee of Consumer Services, and Claire Geddes, a citizen activist, filed a request that asks the top court to reconsider an agreement that passes millions of dollars in processing costs to Questar Gas customers.
The petition includes 51 other citizens and two businesses.
The 8-year-old dispute involved Ball for several years when he served with the consumer committee. Although he was fired last year by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., Ball is unwilling to let go of this fight.
For decades, Ball charges, customers of Salt Lake-based Questar Gas paid for a pipeline to bring them "oil-field" natural gas. But he says the company abruptly switched to so-called "coal-seam" gas on its pipeline system to increase its profits.
"Only then did Questar say their action was causing a safety problem and demand customers pay to fix it," Ball said. "Questar caused this, not consumers, and Questar should pay to fix it. We're going to the Supreme Court to ask them for the justice the Utah Public Service Commission denied us."
In January, the commission ordered $18 million in the costs to be passed to Questar Gas customers.
Chad Jones, a spokesman for Questar, said it comes as no surprise that Ball and Geddes filed such a request. However, Jones said most utility customers do not realize that by allowing cheaper coal-seam gas onto the system, they have benefited to the tune of roughly $30 million since the late 1990s.
"It saved $8 million this year alone," Jones said. "In addition, we save another $3 million every year by optimizing our transportation agreements with the surrounding interstate pipelines. It's a little bit baffling that any of our customers would be concerned about the stipulation that is saving them millions of dollars."
Through severance taxes, Jones said, production of coal-seam gas last year generated $40 million in tax revenue for the state and $120 million to state institutional trust lands.
In addition to the petition regarding the processing costs, Ball and Geddes filed a separate petition Monday asking the court to review the pair's efforts to be heard on the matter before the commission.
About 1,700 citizen petitions were filed with the PSC, asking that Ball and Geddes be allowed "intervention" in the case. The request was denied.
Ball's attorney, Janet Jenson, has maintained that as early as 1992, Questar may have been alerted to the need to solve the gas/safety issue, "which it now presses upon the commission."
