{"id":2477,"date":"2016-09-09T15:53:39","date_gmt":"2016-09-09T19:53:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/?p=2477"},"modified":"2016-09-09T15:56:37","modified_gmt":"2016-09-09T19:56:37","slug":"mountaineer-gas-refuses-to-turn-over-documents-on-customers-for-proposed-pipeline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/?p=2477","title":{"rendered":"Mountaineer Gas Refuses to Turn Over Documents on Customers for Proposed Pipeline"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mountaineer Gas is refusing to turn over documents it has in its possession that the company says show that it has lined up big customers \u2013 including Procter & Gamble in Martinsburg \u2013 that would use the gas piped through a proposed 25 mile pipeline that would cut through Berkeley Springs and on east to Berkeley County.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"pg\"<\/p>\n

West Virginia Public Service Commission (PSC) staff attorney Linda Bouvette wants the PSC to force the company to turn over the documents.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a motion filed today before the Commission<\/a>, Bouvette says that in response to staff requests for the documents, \u201cMountaineer Gas failed to identify any customers and did not produce any of the requested documents.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMountaineer did not timely object to the data request, declare that the documents were too voluminous to produce or declare the documents confidential \u2013 but merely stated that the staff could inspect the documents in its offices,\u201d Bouvette wrote.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mountaineer Gas emails show that the company has been working since August 2015 to drum up support for the gas pipeline project.<\/span><\/p>\n

But PSC staff has expressed concern \u201cover the apparent lack of interest or commitment on the part of potential customers,\u201d Bouvette wrote.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cStaff has a right to know the identity of the potential customers and the documentation of their intent to purchase gas since Mountaineer is relying on them to support its $45 million expansion project,\u201d Bouvette wrote.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the filing, Bouvette says that she did go to Mountaineer\u2019s offices today to inspect the documents.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe document files were not marked confidential,\u201d she reports. \u201cNone of the documents expressing an interest in gas service were marked confidential nor did any potential customer request that their identity be kept confidential. Mountaineer made no representation of confidentiality in its correspondence to these entities and gave no expectation that the letters of intent or email correspondence would be treated as confidential.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

What did the documents show? Bouvette could not be reached for comment. A spokesperson for the PSC said that \u201cI cannot tell you any more than what she filed in her Motion to Compel as far as what she saw in the Mountaineer Gas documents.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMountaineer has no basis for withholding the documents requested by staff in its\u00a0<\/span>data requests,\u201d Bouvette wrote. \u201cMountaineer should be required to produce the documents immediately.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Mountaineer says that it has received requests for service \u201cfrom potential high-load customers in the area.\u201d But they won\u2019t turn over the documents showing those requests.<\/span><\/p>\n

The company has identified \u201ctwo major potential users that, taken together, could\u00a0<\/span>account for 16,500 Mcf per day.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

The PSC wants to know whether the company has contacted either or both of these two major potential users. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf so, did either or both of them indicate an interest in gas service if it became available?<\/span>Have these two major potential users provided any written confirmation that they would take gas service if available?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

The company has refused to turn over that documentation to the Commission.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mountaineer Gas is refusing to turn over documents it has in its possession that the company says show that it has lined up big customers \u2013 including Procter & Gamble in Martinsburg \u2013 that would use the gas piped through … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2477"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2477\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2481,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2477\/revisions\/2481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}