Gas pact dispute flares in panel

• By MICHELLE MILLHOLLON
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: May 15, 2008 - Page: 6A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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A dispute over whether a state senator’s company is large enough to handle natural gas for big industry spilled over Wednesday at the State Capitol.

At issue was whether the Calcasieu Parish town of Westlake should be allowed to withdraw from the Louisiana Municipal Gas Authority, called LMGA, rather than do business with state Sen. Robert Adley’s Pelican Gas Management.

The House Committee on Municipal, Parochial and Cultural Affairs advanced House Bill 1221 to the full House despite some legislators’ objections about being asked to wade into the dispute.

“I just don’t know why this is here with us,” said state Rep. Sam Jones, D-Franklin.

Pelican Gas has an exclusive agreement with the LMGA to manage the natural gas the authority sells to towns and other municipalities at a wholesale cost.

Westlake City Councilwoman Lori Peterson told lawmakers that Westlake has been trying to withdraw from the authority for seven months.

The LMGA will not tell Westlake how much money to pay to get out of a contract for prepaid natural gas, she said.

House Bill 1221 by state Rep. Brett Geymann, R-Lake Charles, would set a 90-day deadline for the LMGA to calculate the financial obligations of a member that wants to withdraw.

The committee worked on less-contentious bills on its agenda first, saving HB1221 and a few other bills on the “controversial list” for later in the morning.

“I didn’t know we were on the controversial list until just now,” Geymann told the committee.

“Look at your audience,” state Rep. Charmaine Marchand, D-New Orleans, said, referring to the packed committee room.

Geymann noted that committee members were lobbied by people on both sides of the issue.

He asked lawmakers to “just listen” to the testimony.