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Show Second price fixing charges filed against gas companies Two lawsuits alleging price fixing of natural gas by six Utah suppliers and distributors were filed Friday in U.S. District Court for Utah. Salt Lake City attorney Keith Taylor said the suits, one of them a class action, ac-tion, alleges violations of state and federal antitrust laws by the firms' agreement to "establish a price for natural gas which is above the free market price." The defendants in Ixith suits are listed as Utah Gas Service Co., based in Vernal; Gary Energy Corp., Colorado; , Chevron USA Inc., California; Amerada I less Corp., MAI'CO Inc., and Tenneco Oil Co., all listed as Delaware corporations. Plaintiff in the first suit is Rio Algom Corp., operator of a uranium mine and mill south of Moab. Rio Algom, an industrial user of natural gas, alleges that Utah Gas Service Co. entered into an agreement with the other defendants defen-dants in fixing the price of gas sold to residential, commercial and industrial users. Plaintiffs in the class action suit are the Grand County Hoard of Education, Allen Memorial Hospital, Red's Foodtown, Peterson Ford, Mogrand Realty and Investment Co., Miller Supermarket Inc. and Ralph J. Miller, all Moab, The defendants are the same as those ' named in a suit filed in federal court Nov. 8 by the Utah Attorney General's Office. That action was filed on behalf of the state and "all natural persons" who have purchased natural gas. It alleged that the defendants engaged in a "continuing combination and conspiracy in unreasonable : restraint of trade" in violation of the ; Sherman Antitrust Act. |