In a letter to the Wyoming Public Service Commission, Kinder Morgan said a proposed extension of the Choice Gas selection period would cause huge operational problems.

Last week the PSC received three separate letters from Francis Harris, Rep. Ann Robinson, D-Casper, and Rep. Mary Gilmore, D-Casper, requesting a 90-day extension to the Choice Gas selection period.

Robinson said she made her request because the selection period, which ends May 1, is not long enough for people to organize residential pools designed to work with Choice Gas suppliers to negotiate a special rate.

Both Gilmore and Harris were unavailable for comment Thursday to explain their reasons for requesting the extension.

Natural gas customers in Kinder Morgan's Casper, Torrington and Gillette divisions have until May 1 to choose from seven types of rate options offered by five natural gas suppliers. The choice will determine how much they are charged for the gas they need to heat their homes and businesses from June 1, 2003 to May 31, 2004.

Upon receiving the letters, the commission contacted Kinder Morgan to get the company's opinion on the feasibility of such an extension, Steve Oxley, secretary and chief counsel for the PSC, said last Friday.

Kinder Morgan told the commission a 90-day extension cannot happen because of mammoth operational problems such an extension would cause, according to Rick Rainey, manager of corporate communications for Kinder Morgan .

"The point that we have made is … that for operational reasons there is no way to extend it," Rainey said. "Because not only us but the other suppliers need to know how much gas they are going to need so they can start injecting it so there will be enough for the winter season."

Rainey explained that during the summer months suppliers inject their storage units with natural gas for use during the colder times of the year. If suppliers do not know how many customers they will have during the injection season, which starts in May, they will not know how much gas they will have to buy to inject into storage.

A 90-day extension would also greatly impact the price suppliers will have to pay for gas, Rainey said.

"That also puts you in a situation where you have to wait 90 days to purchase gas," he said. "The gas is obviously going to be more expensive because then you are into the cooling season and irrigation and a number of other things."

Ivan Williams, a PSC attorney, said if the commission decides to act on the extension, it will hold a meeting to discuss it sometime soon.

Williams also said that Oxley, who is handling work on the extension, was out of the office Thursday and unavailable for comment.

If the commission does end up granting the 90-day extension, Rainey said he is unsure what action Kinder Morgan will take.

"I will just have to wait and see what they say," he said. "It would be premature for me to guess what our next move is."

He was also uncertain what impact an extension would have on those who have already made a Choice Gas selection.

Whatever the commission decides, however, Rainey said his company will do its best to comply.

"We are committed to working with the commission. And whatever they order, we will do our best to follow it," he said.