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Show Will Fight . . . Mountain Fuel to Fight Lawsuit on Tax Salt Lake City -- Mountain Fuel Supply Company said today it will fight a law suit filed against the company yesterday by Gary Operating Co., Englewood Colorado. B.Z. Kastler, Mountain Fuel president, said the suit by Gary is not based on the price of gas purchased by Mountain Fuel. "They claim recent Federal Power Commission Com-mission opinions alter the contract between the two companies requiring us to pay certain state taxes. We contend that the original contract is still valid, and they should continue to pay those taxes as they have in the past." "The contention that we have not passed along to them the higher price of gas we have been receiving in our rates is not correct. The whole matter has to do with taxes, not the purchase price of gas," Kastler said. Mr. Kastler said that with the approval of the Utah Public Service Commission, Mountain Fuel has been collecting the disputed money in its rates. However, the money has been reserved by Mountain Fuel pending a resolution of the question with Gary. "If our position wins out, the money will then be returned to our costomers," Kastler said. "If not, it will be paid to Gary." "We feel we have an oblication to keep our rates as low as possible," Kastler said, "so we will fight claims like this one. We'll not just pay companies like Gary more money because they think we should." |