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RCA subpoenas former FNG employee Upcoming deposition will ask Kirby why he emailed Regulatory Commission of Alaska Chairman Robert Pickett Eric Lidji For Petroleum News
The state is requiring a former Fairbanks Natural Gas LLC employee to explain a personal email he recently sent to the chairman of the Regulatory Commission of Alaska.
With a Jan. 26 subpoena, Administrative Law Judge John P. Wood ordered Patrick Kirby to appear before Fairbanks North Star Borough outside counsel in Anchorage on Feb. 5.
He’ll be asked to explain an email he sent to RCA Chairman Robert Pickett from a personal account on Jan. 6. In the email, Kirby complained about working in a “very hostile and negative environment” and made accusations about company officials.
According to a copy of the email included in regulatory filings, Kirby wrote, “I was hired not because of my utility experience but rather my entire body of work which provides a lot of credibility with regard to testifying and so forth. Yet now they realize I am very independent, I do not lie, cheat or steal and I will not compromise my principals.” He added, “If something happens to me, I would appreciate it if you would follow up. There is a lot of money involved here and I present a clear present danger to those who benefit.”
Speaking to Petroleum News on Jan. 27, Fairbanks Natural Gas President Dan Britton said, “I have never asked anyone to compromise their principles nor does Fairbanks Natural Gas compromise its principles. I don’t know what Mr. Kirby is talking about.”
Britton declined to say whether Kirby quit or was fired, calling it was a personnel matter.
Formerly regulatory affairs manager At the time Kirby sent the email, he was regulatory affairs manager for Fairbanks Natural Gas, which made him one of the witnesses in a rate case currently working its way through the regulatory process. He provided initial testimony in support of Fairbanks Natural Gas’ financial information when the utility filed its rate case back in June 2014.
State regulations prohibit a commissioner from communicating with parties involved in pending decisions and require all communications sent to the Regulatory Commission of Alaska to be addressed to the commission as a whole, rather than to individual staff.
Those regulations also provide guidelines for how regulator should respond to such “ex parte communications.” On Jan. 8, Pickett responded to Kirby through a third party - Commission Section Manager Ann Wilde - and also sent a report about the matter to his fellow commissioners. State regulations require both actions within two business days.
The entire correspondence became publicly known Jan. 12, when the commission posted Pickett’s report, which includes a copy of the original email, to its website.
The next day, Fairbanks Natural Gas removed Kirby from the “service list,” which is a list of individuals authorized to receive paperwork in an ongoing regulatory proceeding.
Borough wanted disposition That same day, the Fairbanks North Star Borough asked Fairbanks Natural Gas to make Kirby available for a deposition, only to be told, on Jan. 20, that Kirby no longer worked for the utility, according to a Jan. 23 filing from Kelly M. Helmbrecht of the law firm Brena, Bell and Clarkson, which is representing the Fairbanks North Star Borough. The borough then asked regulators to require Kirby to appear at an upcoming deposition.
Several days later, on Jan. 26, Fairbanks Natural Gas withdrew the original testimony Kirby provided in June 2014. Britton formally added the information to his testimony.
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