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D/FW Airport Exec Says Minority Involvement in Drilling Deal Overstated by 40 Percent, According to ICC Energy

Posted on: Wednesday, 11 February 2009, 11:47 CST

DALLAS, Feb. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Officials from Dallas-based ICC Energy Corp. say the involvement of a minority subcontractor in the massive natural gas drilling project at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport has been overstated by 40 percent, based on an e-mail sent by a D/FW Airport official to an ICC Energy executive. Attorneys for ICC Energy say the memo casts more doubt on whether minority-owned businesses are getting a fair shake in the multi-million-dollar project awarded to Oklahoma City, Okla.-based Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) in 2006.

ICC Energy sued Chesapeake last year based on claims that Chesapeake has failed to comply with its commitment to hire ICC Energy to market 20 percent of the natural gas recovered from the airport project. Last week, Chesapeake told a D/FW Airport board committee that the company was unclear on its legal obligation to use minority subcontractors in the project. During the same meeting, D/FW Airport official Don O'Bannon, who leads the airport's minority- and women-owned business program, told the committee that procedures were not followed and that "We learned our lessons here."

An e-mail sent by Mr. O'Bannon to Kris Butler of ICC Energy on Jan. 12, 2009, sheds new light on at least one case where a minority-owned company's involvement with Chesapeake was overstated by 40 percent. The e-mail involved whether a minority subcontractor should have been listed at the 100 percent participation level based on the subcontractor's role as a "regular dealer" rather than a "manufacturer."

"A 'regular dealer' is counted at 60% and therefore, the reporting numbers should be adjusted to reflect the lower percentage," Mr. O'Bannon wrote.

"If one company's involvement was overstated by 40 percent, that's 40 percent that could have gone to another minority subcontractor," says ICC Energy attorney Mark Werbner of Dallas' Sayles Werbner. "Our client and other capable companies could be missing out on millions."

The airport and Chesapeake also are involved in a dispute over the calculation of royalties and the amount of gas that Chesapeake is producing and selling through the airport project.

"Even though they are entangled in a vigorous royalty dispute, D/FW Airport CEO Jeff Fegan has continued to grant Chesapeake a free pass on the minority issues. Something just doesn't add up," says attorney Willie Briscoe, who also represents ICC Energy along with Mr. Werbner and Dallas attorney Joe Kendall.

For more than 18 years, ICC Energy has marketed natural gas for companies such as British Petroleum, Clean Energy, Texaco, Shell, and Fina, including providing natural gas to D/FW Airport since 2005. ICC Energy is the largest African American-owned natural gas marketer in Texas.

For more information, please contact Bruce Vincent at 214-559-4630 or bruce@androvett.com.

SOURCE ICC Energy Corp.

Source: PR Newswire

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