Sues

Alleging there is evidence that its customers would be overcharged by more than $1.4 billion, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. filed a suit last Tuesday in a state Superior Court in Sacramento asking that the state’s power-buying agency, the Department of Water Resources (DWR), be forced to hold a public hearing to determine if its estimated $13 billion in power purchases are accurate.

Texas Attorney General John Cornyn filed a civil lawsuit last week against ExxonMobil of stealing millions of dollars in oil and gas revenue from land owned by the state’s taxpayers. Cornyn accused the company of defrauding Texas for at least 25 years by “knowingly and wrongfully” producing oil and gas from 50 acres of publicly owned right-of-way property in East Texas.

Texas Attorney General John Cornyn filed a civil lawsuit lastweek against ExxonMobil, accusing it of taking millions of dollarsin oil and gas revenue from land owned by the state’s taxpayers.Cornyn accused the company of defrauding Texas for at least 25years by “knowingly and wrongfully” producing oil and gas from 50acres of publicly owned right-of-way property in East Texas.

Exploring yet another legal avenue, Pacific Gas and Electric Co.Wednesday filed in San Francisco’s federal district court askingfor a judicial ruling that will mandate that it can recover all ofthe nearly $3 billion in uncollected wholesale electricity coststhat have been mounting since May when price spikes in Califonia’smarket left the state’s major investor-owned utilities vulnerablebecause their retail power rates are frozen at 1996 levels.

After a two-month investigation, the Department of Justice fileda lawsuit earlier this week against affiliates of ExxonMobil andBurlington Resources for “knowingly underpaying” natural gasroyalties for production from federal lands, and requested moretime to decide on a suit against Shell Oil and Meridian Oil forsimilar violations.

The Southwest Gas merger soap opera took another turn recentlyas Oneok, the former merger partner of Southwest, announced it ispursuing lawsuits against the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC),the state of Arizona and specific members of the ACC staff fortheir roles in interfering with the merger. Oneok said it iswilling to settle its claims for $85 million.

The Southwest Gas merger soap opera took another turn recentlyas Oneok, the former merger partner of Southwest, announced it ispursuing lawsuits against the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC),the state of Arizona and specific members of the ACC staff fortheir roles in interfering with the merger. Oneok said it iswilling to settle its claims for $85 million.

The U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) is being sued byCalifornia Gov. Gray Davis, the California Coastal Commission andthe state attorney general’s office for granting extensions on 36offshore oil and gas leases. The extentions were granted two weeksago by DOI Secretary Bruce Babbitt.

California Gov. Gray Davis has joined the California CoastalCommission and the state attorney general’s office in a lawsuitagainst the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) to block extensionsDOI Secretary Bruce Babbitt granted last week on 36 undeveloped oiland gas leases offshore.