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6.3.04 M.U.D., Aquila officials trade barbs The sometimes competitive relationship between the Metropolitan Utilities District and Aquila Inc., providers of natural gas in the Omaha area, burst to the surface during Wednesday's M.U.D. board meeting. A letter to the editor in the Sunday World-Herald was the basis for a tense exchange between the M.U.D. board and Aquila's representative at the meeting. The letter was from Richard "Chuck" Loomis, Aquila's former business manager in Nebraska and now an Aquila executive in Kansas. He drew a parallel between M.U.D.'s controversial expansion of its water supply and its unsuccessful attempt to expand its natural gas system. In the letter, Loomis suggested that M.U.D. should reconsider the way it conducts its business. The letter did not indicate that Loomis was an Aquila executive. An M.U.D. board member, Mark Doyle, asked general manager Tom Wurtz to detail M.U.D.'s gas expansion policies so that people would be aware of the steps the utility takes. And, separately, he asked Wurtz to discuss the $26 million that Aquila is paying as part of a national settlement over natural gas price reporting. Aquila, Duke Energy and some other utilities, Wurtz said, were engaged in "phony trades" to "drum up the price of gas." And they didn't just drive up the price of gas for their customers, Wurtz told the board, but for natural gas users across the country. That prompted Aquila's representative at the meeting, John Schlautman, to stand up, interrupt Wurtz and respond: "What you are saying is lies." Schlautman later was given a chance to come up from the audience and address the board directly. Aquila, he said, had never admitted any wrongdoing but paid the fine because it was simpler and less costly than going to court. "I don't think you need to disparage Aquila in your board meetings," Schlautman said. "We said we didn't do anything wrong." As Schlautman turned to go back to his seat, board member Tom Dowd asked him to reiterate the settlement amount. When Schlautman responded "$26 million," Dowd remarked that that amount of money would cover a lot of attorneys' fees. |
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