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Show In Our Opinion End brouhaha over pipeline We hope the natural gas pipeline brouhaha in Bountiful City Council, that has degenerated into a verbal slugfest between Councilwoman Renee Coon and Mayor Robert Linnell, will be put to rest in a final confrontation billed for Wednesday's I regular council meeting. Coon, who leads a faction that opposes the 900-mile natural gas pipeline that would extend from Wyoming to California, issued a seven-page document late Friday that was purported I to back up her allegations of "corruption" in city government. But a careful reading finds little more substance than documentation docu-mentation that the mayor has been less than enthusiastic in the fight to stop the pipeline. There are suggestions from Coon that the mayor may have maneuvered behind the scenes to discourage other cities from joining the anti-pipeline battle. Finally, Coon asks that the Linnell disclose all campaign contributions he received during his race for mayor, and that he publicly disclose all personal and family relationships with the pipeline companies. I For his part, the mayor angrily demands that Coon back up allegations she has publicly made of "corruption" in city government. He hasn't done anything but go along with City Council decisions on the pipeline issue, the mayor adds. Ironically, Linnell told the Clipper, his largest campaign I contribution, $200, is from the holding company of Mountain I Fuel Supply Co., a firm who finds its own interest best served if other competing pipeline companies stayed out of Utah. Although corruption may be too strong a word, LinnelTs denials of behind the scenes dealings on the pipeline may be too vehement. The Mayor freely admitted speaking with Kern River Gas Transmission Co., builders of the pipeline, in meetings he did not report to his City Council. Although not unlawful, this practice seems questionable based on the sensitivity sen-sitivity of the subject. Linnell emphatically denies that Kern River is in any way associated with Northwest Pipeline Co., the company at which his daughter works. The fact is, Kern River and Northwest Pipeline companies share the same parent company, The Williams Companies Inc. "Big deal," you might say. We don't think it's a big deal either. What makes it questionable, is LinnelTs emphatic I denial that there is no connection. There is a connection, but so what? Why deny it? I What could have been a simply resolved difference, has now I mushroomed into a full-blown war between two parties who I claim they are both seeking the same goal. I If the Mayor and Coon had put their considerable talent and energy into a combined effort to stop the pipeline, as a team I the two may have been able to do what a cadre of protesters I and lawyers have not yet achieved. On the other hand, if the 12,000 pipeline opponents who signed petitions to stop the pipeline had done more than just sign the petitions, maybe Mayor Linnell would have been convinced con-vinced that more than one lonely councilwoman was continuing continu-ing this fight. This issue could have well fit into the "Much Ado About Nothing" file, but when a City Council member and a mayor square off for the fight, it becomes news. |