OKLAHOMA

CORPORATION COMMISSION                                                                                                            308 Jim Thorpe Building

                P.O. BOX 52000-2000                                                                                                                                         Telephone:  (405) 521-2264

                OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA 73152-2000                                                                                                               FAX:  (405) 522-1623

 

 


            Ed Apple                                                                                                                              Commissioner

 

 



For Further Information, Contact:

Sarah Penn, (405) 521-2264

Ed Apple, (580) 255-0103

 

 

 

COMMISSIONER APPLE OBJECTS TO “WAR OF WORDS”

WARNS OF DAMAGE TO INTEGRITY OF THE COMMISSION

 

Corporation Commissioner Ed Apple today issued the following statement in regards to an OCC news release (dated today) regarding Staff’s request for documents from ONEOK subsidiaries:

 

“It is a matter of public record that I do not support Staff’s demand that ONEOK turn over documents related to gas contracts over which this agency has no authority. I now find myself forced to take issue with today’s news release from this agency on the ONEOK issue.

 

“There is no basis of known fact on which to base staff’s request for the documents in question, and to imply otherwise is simply wrong, and, to me, repugnant.   Staff has no evidence of wrongdoing by ONEOK or its subsidiaries, and I don’t believe the Commission has the right to invoke government power and look into unregulated areas simply because we don’t like the results of the regulated process under which ONG competitively bid for its gas. Nor do I believe this agency has the right to further inflame the issue in the minds of an already-suffering public.

 

“As a government agency, it is essential that the Corporation Commission deal only in fact.  To launch a verbal assault on a company for exercising its constitutional right to object to a questionable government edict does nothing but add to the conflict, and further erode any hope that there can be a mutual effort toward resolution of this issue.

 

 “To turn the ‘marketplace of ideas’ into a mere verbal wrestling match puts in danger a noble and correct concept upon which this country was based.  People across the nation, both in Oklahoma and elsewhere, are struggling to pay their high utility bills. They deserve compassion and understanding, not an inflammatory process that does nothing toward finding a solution to the problem. “