Questioncolumbia

Less than one day after the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio(PUCO) threw its support behind the NiSource/Columbia Energy Groupmerger, three groups of Ohio schools urged the commission to make afull review of the proposal. On Tuesday, PUCO authorized a letterto the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that statedthe proposed merger would have no impact on its ability to protectthe interests of Columbia Gas of Ohio ratepayers. However, theschools are not as confident.