DID THEY LISTEN?
Ovapa Gas Hearing

   On January 31st, 2020, many of our citizens from the Ovapa area came to meet with Public Service Commission Board to discuss Mountaineer Gas (MG), and the reasons they want to abandon 49 families. Meanwhile, a few of the citizens could not be fooled by their antics as a couple of them used to work for oil and gas companies.

   Mr. Westfall, Vice President of Gas Supply for Mountaineer Gas Company, stood as the first witness. As Mr. Westfall began to present his case, he announced they had sent out maps to the residences in the Ovapa area, yet, none in the room had attained one. The hearing was forced to take a break for everyone to obtain a map to follow along with. When the meeting resumed, Westfall began explaining the legend on the map to the citizens. What each colored line, dotted line, and color areas on the map were. A few of them unfolded the large map (even though it was stated it was too large for everyone to unfold and look at) to follow along, and prepare questions when we was done speaking.
   The lines that are causing all the trouble are owned by Ground Resources. There is a 2-3 times loss compared to the usage of the customers. This problem arised because these lines are what are known to be called “gathering lines,” which are unregulated, and no one can force the company to maintain the lines. Therefore, a majority of the lines are above ground, and leaking. Mr. Westfall further explained that in order to remain selling gas to these customers, they would have to connect to the nearby Diversified lines.
   Unprepared, Westfall explained that MG had split each hollow into 5 different groups with their own cost estimates. Once again, the judge was forced to go off the record so the parties could obtain their maps of each group. In total, they estimate $1.8 million to run the new lines to keep servicing the area. That is a cost between $40,000 to $85,000 per customer, and MG has deemed it unworthy to raise the rates for everyone else to keep their gas, and has decided to abandon the area. They are willing to pay everyone for converting to either propane or electric appliances.
In total, 49 customers will be abandoned by MG, and a few of them have already accepted the deal to switch to propane or electric. The rest took a stand, and had several questions. One of the first questions that popped out was if they had ever considered buying the lines when the previous company went bankrupt. Westfall responded no, it was never looked into.
   Michael Lynch, a resident of the Ovapa area, asked him how many gallons of propane are equivalent to natural gas. Unfortunately, its a 130%increase at 11 gallons of propane to 1 of natural gas. Later on, he had calculated how many BTU he uses each month, and it was over 15 thousand. It would cause a 400% increase in his monthly bill to switch to propane. He was also told later on that switching to electric would likely be much higher than that.
   Mr. Westfall also stated they were were reluctant to set them up on a single well basis, and they would have to replace all of Ground Resources lines to take them over. When he was questioned if that would be a cheaper route, he told them it would cost about the same. Westfall had stated that the estimates for connecting to Diversified lines could go up due to trenching, and busting up rocks.
David Jones, another resident, said that for the 13 years he has lived there, he has never had any outages. He said this because Mr. Westfall mentioned with all the leaks in the line, its causing shortages everywhere. Mr. Jones also stated there was a long line replaced from his house to Mr. Lynch’s mountain. Westfall had no knowledge on that replacement, and it was not marked on the map as replaced line. Mr. Jones’s bill would increase from $141 per month to $641 if he were to switch to propane.
   Another resident with questions was Amanda Adkins. Her gas bill per month is $169 for her business, and she asked how many businesses they provide gas for. It was somewhere around 30,000. With her calculations, if they use at least the same amount of gas she does, they net over $3 million. Many businesses are a lot larger than hers, and naturally consume more.

  

    Others spoke about having fixed incomes, and unable to afford their power bills except for the budget plan as it is. They could not afford the extra cost of propane or electric appliances. It would put so many in financial binds.
   The citizens had questioned why MG never complained about the state of the lines to Ground Resources, and every time they would ask, he would reply, “Not our responsibility to monitor the lines.” Their only responsibilities were to make sure the gas was getting to their loyal customers, and no maintenance whatsoever. His reasons were because they did not own the lines, and had no obligations to address any issues with the lines with Ground Resources.  Westfall also mentioned there were pressure issues. This is important for later in the story.
   Mr. Jones was able to question Wesfall again, and he asked why the new lines from Diversified had to be 4 inches in diameter, when they one that has been supplying his house for 13 years was 2 inch. Westfall could only say to be sure they have enough pressure in the lines to supply the houses. He then asked, “Why a short notice when they noticed for a long time?” Westfall said, “We’ve known for years that was a struggling system.” He never gave a reason for such a short notice. Jones noticed his meter on their map wasn’t in the correct place. Westfall claimed they never had to because the computer they used to generate their estimation, would only be off within 100 ft.
   Previously, Westfall stated that boring lines instead of trenching them, costs exponentially more. The citizens brought the attention of Paxton Hollow receiving new lines, and never received gas. All of those lines were bored, the most expensive laying out there. Why did they not ever receive gas?Why did they run those expensive lines for 7 people, and not the 49 that was already receiving gas?

   

   Then it was Mr. Harper’s, engineering staff for the Public Service Commission, time to take the stand. He was one of them that spoke with MG to discuss why they want to abandon, and investigate the matter. Harper declared that 1 ½ inch lines may not be suitable for proper pressures either. He claimed he was investigating the situation, he said he attempted to contact everyone. Yet, no one in the room had been contacted by him. They asked if he had inspected any of the lines himself, the answer was no, he was going off of what he was told by MG. Even Mr. Westfall admitted they never inspected all of the lines, just certain few.
   The residents continued to ask if the lines would have been complained about to the Public Service Commission, if anything could have been done to restore the lines. He replied, “The complaint would be dismissed, lines are unregulated.” Then he said, “Ground Resources said they could no longer provide gas through the lines.” Mr. Harper, said what no one else has said. Ground Resources claim there is not enough gas in the wells to keep supplying the homes. The fact that he never walked the lines, the citizens spoke out, saying he never attempted a real investigation, just taking the companies word for it.
   Mr. Harper then proceeded to inform them that there are no detailed surveys of the area, and MG’s contract to Ground Resources expired in 2018, and has been on a month to month basis since.
   After an hour long lunch break, another engineer, Mr. Clark, was to discuss the cost of a heat pump, and how it can lower electric bills, allowing the bill to be cheaper than propane. Still yet, many of the residents are unable to pay the access in bills. Clark spoke on average about the costs of an ordinary, modern home to heat, not taking any consideration these homes were older, not fully insulated, and mobile homes. When asked about, he even stated it changes significantly when considering even a mobile home.
   Mr. Clark was asked directly if he believes that they should be abandoned, his reply, “Yes.” Mrs. Adkins asked him the estimate for a complete survey of the area, and he told her around $100 thousand. She claims the survey was already completed when they put up stakes for new meters in 2019, but then were suddenly taken back up. Later on when Mr. Westfall was sent back to the stand, she asked him about it, and he insists there were no complete surveys completed in the area.
   As each resident took the stand to address their concerns, and to submit any last evidence they have, fully working untapped wells had been mentioned, two verified by Tom Gorgone. They brought up the DEP website reported several working wells in the area. Each were also questioned how long they lived in their homes, as well as the length of service, and if they ever experienced any outages. The only outages reported were when the meters froze, and that is it. Every other time, they never lost service.
    The citizens of the Ovapa area also gathered signatures for many that would love to receive gas as well, only causing MG more revenue to keep servicing the area.
    My own personal opinion on this matter is people genuinely lack the decency to care for one another, and all that is worried about is money. As much as I hate a bunch of useless laws, no lines should ever be unregulated. After all those years of unregulated lines causing gas leaks, all could have flowed to the residences instead of in the open air. Some even reported oil leaking into the water sources as well. Pure negligence wrapped around a bunch of useless laws designed to create barriers, making it hard for people to reach the companies,
   When Mountaineer Gas decided to buy gas off of Ground Resources, they knew the lines were unregulated, and no one could force them to repair any lines. Their laws placed no requirements for any reports on the lines, and an actual force of the lines being repaired. No one cared that the system was neglected, and MG is wanting an easy out. I even heard Westfall, and another lady say they believe it is going in their favor. No care at all for their loyal customers of Ovapa.
JM