RICHMOND, Va., and PITTSBURGH, Sept. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- The Public Utility
Commission of Ohio has filed a statement with the federal Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC) supporting the merger of Dominion Resources Inc.
(NYSE: D) and Consolidated Natural Gas Company (NYSE: CNG), the two companies
announced today.
    The Ohio commission told the SEC that the agency would continue to
exercise jurisdiction over the regulated activities of The East Ohio Gas
Company, CNG's natural gas distribution company in Ohio, and that the merger
would have no impact on its ability to protect the interests of Ohio
ratepayers.  The Ohio commission is not required to approve the merger but
conducted a structural review at the request of East Ohio Gas.
    Thos. E. Capps, chairman, president and chief executive officer of
Dominion Resources and George A. Davidson Jr., chairman and chief executive
officer of CNG, said in a joint statement:
    "We believe our merger will provide substantial benefits to the state of
Ohio.  This is a merger about growth, and Ohio will play an important role in
our expansion plans.  We thank the Ohio commission for its timely review and
support of our merger plan."
    The merger has been approved by public utility commissions in Pennsylvania
and West Virginia, as well as shareholders of both companies.  Still pending
are decisions by Virginia and North Carolina public utility commissions and
several federal agencies.
    "We continue to work toward being in a position to close the merger by the
end of the year,"  Capps and Davidson said.
    CNG has more than 2,200 employees and approximately 1.2 million natural
gas customers in Ohio.  The merged company plans to participate in unregulated
markets for both natural gas and electricity in Ohio.  Dominion Resources and
CNG have also announced plans to build two $200 million gas-fired electric
power generation facilities in Ohio to supply electricity during periods of
peak need.
    The Dominion Resources/CNG merger will create the nation's largest fully-
integrated energy company.  The merged company will serve about 4 million
electric and natural gas customers in five states.  It will have about
20,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity and will operate North
America's largest natural gas storage system.  The merged company also will be
one of the largest independent oil and natural gas exploration and production
companies in North America, with more than 3 trillion cubic feet equivalent of
reserves in the United States and Canada.
    Dominion Resources expects SEC approval of its plan to have CNG remain a
wholly-owned subsidiary.

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