More than two years after it was filed, one of Oklahoma’s lawsuits against natural gas marketers for massive charges during a 2021 winter storm could go to trial later this year.  Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond filed lawsuits on behalf of the state’s public utility, the Grand River Dam Authority, in April 2024. They alleged natural gas marketers and pipeline operators illegally bid up the spot prices of natural gas to collect huge profits during Winter Storm Uri in February 2021.  Natural gas prices at regional trading hubs used by Oklahoma utilities and other customers ballooned to more than $1,200 per thousand cubic feet, up from $3 in the weeks leading up to the storm. Spot prices at other regional hubs also spiked, but not to the same extent during the winter storm.  Customers of the state’s largest public utilities are repaying billions in natural costs, plus interest, in the form of monthly billing surcharges for the next couple of decades. Those charges stem from state regulatory approval of ratepayer-backed bonds sold in 2022.   Drummond, with the help of outside attorneys, sued ET Gathering and Processing LLC and Symmetry Energy Solutions LLC in separate lawsuits in Osage County. Both lawsuits survived the companies’ motions to dismiss and removal to another county in early 2025.  Discovery Squabbles  Now, attorneys in the ET Gathering and Processing lawsuit are squabbling over the pace of the production of records in the discovery phase. Osage County District Judge Stuart Tate twice ruled against the attorney general’s office for dragging its feet in providing evidence to ET Gathering and Processing backing up the state’s complaints of market manipulation.   “The state pleaded sweeping unfounded allegations of fraud and market manipulation during Winter Storm Uri, relied on those allegations to argue against dismissal, and now refuses to disclose the facts that purportedly support them,” attorneys for ET Gathering and Processing said in an Oct. 2 court filing.  The company’s attorneys pointed out that GRDA signed a new natural gas agreement in May 2024 with ET Gathering and Processing’s sister company, OEIT, to supply a new natural gas unit under construction at GRDA’s Grand River Energy Center in Choteau. It will replace an older coal-fired unit. That new GRDA natural gas agreement came one month after the attorney general filed his lawsuit.  ET Gathering and Processing attorneys also want the attorney general’s office to provide an estimate on possible damages to GRDA and its customers. Lawyers for the attorney general said it was premature, but when pressed, said damages could be in excess of $100 million. That’s based on the difference between natural gas prices before the storm and the fact that damages could be tripled in an antitrust case.  Attorneys for Drummond’s office said they provided what they could in discovery requests and said ET Gathering and Processing’s requests for document production were premature or overly burdensome. They said the allegations of wrongdoing stem from the 2021 winter storm and not any new natural gas contracts signed by GRDA.   Although it may change, Tate set a pretrial conference for Aug. 4, with the expectation that a jury trial could take up to 10 days. The trial date will be set at the pretrial conference.  The other GRDA lawsuit, against Symmetry Energy Solutions, remains in a pre-discovery phase. The last entry in the docket came in August.  Drummond’s office said the state’s outside attorneys are working on a contingency basis, so no fees will be paid unless the state recovers something through a judgment or settlement. Drummond, a Republican, is running for governor after being elected attorney general in 2022.  “We are working to hold responsible parties accountable for any unlawful conduct that harmed Oklahomans during Winter Storm Uri and to recover damages for the state,” said Leslie Berger, Drummond’s press secretary.  Kansas AG Lawsuit Dismissed Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach last year dismissed his office’s federal lawsuit against Macquarie Energy LLC, one of the five largest natural gas traders in the U.S.  Kobach accused the company of price gouging during Winter Storm Uri by manipulating natural gas prices, costing Kansas consumers more than $50 million.  Macquarie denied any wrongdoing in connection with natural gas trading and said market forces were responsible for the rise in prices. In announcing the dismissal, Kobach’s office said Macquarie had agreed to make a $400,000 donation to the Salvation Army in Kansas to help that state’s residents with their utility bills.  Macquarie also sold $154 million in natural gas to Oklahoma electric and natural gas utilities during the 2021 winter storm, according to sales data from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission.  Drummond filed a lawsuit in January 2025 against Macquarie and 15 other natural gas sellers. The attorney general alleged the marketers used force majeure clauses, attributed to acts of God, to cancel natural gas contracts and resell gas at higher spot prices. That case, also in Osage County, is in the early stages of discovery between the parties after Tate ruled against motions to dismiss in August. The natural gas marketers denied wrongdoing.  Lawmakers Challenge Fuel Audits A trio of Oklahoma lawmakers has asked the Oklahoma Supreme Court to throw out several decisions by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission because of Commissioner Todd Hiett’s involvement. Among the cases under contention were annual fuel audits for Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co., Public Service Co. and Oklahoma Natural Gas.  House Republican Reps. Tom Gann, Kevin West and Rick West said Hiett, who was accused of public drunkenness at an industry conference, should have recused himself from those fuel-adjustment clause decisions. Hiett admitted his problems with alcohol and sought outpatient treatment. The Ethics Commission in May cleared him of conflict-of-interest complaints. In their petition to the Supreme Court, the lawmakers said regulators failed to properly audit the fuel costs from Winter Storm Uri, echoing a perennial complaint by former Corporation Commissioner Bob Anthony.  “The effect of these errors in OCC fuel cases since 2021 has been to violate the due process rights of millions of Oklahoma utility ratepayers six ways from Sunday and to shield more than $10 billion of utility FAC charges from lawful, required audits and prudence reviews,” the lawmakers said in a Dec. 18 filing with the Supreme Court.  Under Oklahoma law, utilities cannot profit from fuel purchases and instead pass costs to customers through a fuel-adjustment clause. In normal times, regulators audit fuel charges to make sure utilities aren’t collecting too much or too little from customers as fuel prices fluctuate depending on both the time of year and demand. But utilities have little incentive to hold down fuel costs in an emergency when the final bill goes straight to customers.  In a court filing last week, Drummond’s office said the lawmakers leveled unsubstantiated attacks at Hiett and other officials but failed to challenge the validity of the fuel-adjustment clause orders themselves. The attorney general’s office represents consumers before the Corporation Commission.  “Speculative anecdotes of alleged personal impropriety on behalf of a commissioner, without concrete allegations of any conduct resulting in unfair tariffs and rates, do not arise to a due process violation,” the attorney general said.   Drummond’s office said the lawmakers were best positioned to change the law at the Legislature.  “In the end, appellants have many policy objections to the way the commission is structured and governed,” the Jan. 27 filing said. “But again, these grievances are policy objections. And there is no better coalition than a group of state legislators to address these policy concerns through duly enacted legislation. This court should decline to entertain these legislators’ attempts to legislate through the judicial process.” Paul Monies has been a reporter with Oklahoma Watch since 2017 and covers state agencies and public health. Contact him at (571) 319-3289 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @pmonies.  The post Oklahoma’s Winter Storm Uri Lawsuits Coming Out Of Cold Storage  appeared first on Oklahoma Watch. ...read more read less