The Southwest Power Pool says it has finished a successful expansion of its service territory from the Midwest into the Western Interconnection of the nation’s power grid. It means the SPP, which originally included Oklahoma and 13 other states stretching north to North Dakota, now includes states in the far western reaches of the nation, …
April 2026 archive
Harold Hamm says oil prices will eventually fall
Oklahoma’s “go-to” oil guy, Harold Hamm, founder and chair of Continental Resources Company believes the world’s high oil prices will eventually decline as the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran eventually ends. “ I think oil will come back down. Oil prices will moderate again. And we should expect that,” said Hamm in an interview Thursday …
US recorded increase in oil and gas rigs—Oklahoma was unchanged
The U.S. saw a gain of 5 oil and gas rigs in the past week to reach a total of 548 while Oklahoma’s count was unchanged from the previous week, according to the Baker Hughes Rig Count released Thursday. The report indicated Oklahoma held steady with a count of 44 rigs throughout the state. …
Oil prices fall as Trump talks of end to war against Iran
Crude oil prices fell nearly 3% Wednesday after President Donald Trump signalized the U.S. might soon wind down its military operations against Iran. He also threatened to quit NATO over its lack of support in the Middle East operation. “I can’t tell you exactly … we’re going to be out pretty quickly,” Trump told …
Tax Commission confirms data breach of taxpayer’s files
An apparent large data breach occurred in the past few months in the files of the Oklahoma Tax Commission and notifications were sent out this week to those whose files might have been targeted. The Tax Commission started notifications just this past week but the breach was discovered in December of last year. Those who …
House bill approved to stop climate change lawsuits
The Oklahoma legislature is close to enacting a proposal to protect oil and gas companies from being sued over climate change lawsuits. HB1439, authored by Rep. Anthony Moore and Sen. Julie Daniels, won approval in the House Energy committee Wednesday on a 9-3 vote. Rep. Moore told the committee it’s designed to put an end …
Corporation Commission closed meetings law to end in July
An attempt to extend the ability of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission to continue its exemption from the state’s Open Meeting act past an approaching deadline appears to be stalled in the state legislature and might be dead for the session. HB4489 by Rep. Tammy Townley and Sen. Dave Rader was designed to extend the …
Study claims data centers do not drive up price of electricity
“The state-level data firmly rejects the narrative that data centers drive up electricity prices. That may or may not change in the future, but the most recent data shows that data centers are not responsible for higher electricity rates.” The conclusion of the Institute for Energy Research is that data centers do not …
BLM Proposal Opens Chaco Land to Oil Drilling
April 2, 2026
BLM Proposal Opens Chaco Region to Oil and Gas Drilling The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) stirred up angry response from environmentalists and Native American leaders in New Mexico by proposing to open more than 300,000 acres of land to oil and gas drilling around the historic Chaco Culture National Historical Park. Public Comment Period …
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