BRENHAM CITY COUNCIL AMENDS GAS SALES CONTRACT FOR SECOND SUPPLY GATE

  

The Brenham City Council has amended the contract with the city’s natural gas provider to support the building of a second natural gas supply gate.

After executive session Thursday, the council approved an amendment to the city’s contract with West Texas Gas (WTG), Inc. regarding gas delivery points.  City Manager James Fisher said the city has been building a second supply gate, and this amendment will provide gas to the additional gate.

A supply gate, also called a gate station, is where natural gas is delivered from transmission pipelines into the high-pressure lines of a local distribution company.

Assistant City Manager of Public Services and Utilities Donald Reese said the city is building a second supply gate for redundancy purposes, in order to keep the city supplied with natural gas on a separate pipeline in case something happens to the first supply gate.  He said this contract amendment had nothing to do with February’s winter storm, as the city had been working on the second station well beforehand.

Reese also said this amendment is not related to what the city was charged for natural gas as a result of the winter storm.  The city is disputing pricing information received from WTG pertaining to the freeze.

KWHI was told last month by Fisher and by WTG that they would not release the pricing numbers, as they are deemed contractual.  KWHI filed a Public Information Request with the city on Thursday asking for the bill that WTG has charged for natural gas during the storm, but was told the same day that the city has not received this bill yet.  When speaking with Reese this (Friday) morning, he gave the same answer, stating—to his knowledge—that the city has not received the bill.

Brenham is one of many other cities facing larger-than-normal gas and utility bills after the winter event.  The City of Sealy was charged $2.06 million, while the City of Bellville received a bill of $1.93 million.