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DEQ Unveils Specialty Tags for 2018
The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) announced the two winners of the specialty tag voting. The public chose the American Bison grazing in an Oklahoma prairie and the Oklahoma sunset over a field of flowers. The specialty plates will be available for purchase later this year. Voting began on January 8 and ran until January 19. Over …
Oklahoma’s December Jobless Rate Improves but Not Oil and Gas Sector
A slight improvement in Oklahoma’s unemployment rate for December 2017 was reported Tuesday by the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission. At the same time, they also reflected a slight drop in employment in Oklahoma’s energy sector. The seasonally adjusted rate declined 0.1 percentage point to 4.1 percent in December while the U.S. jobless rate held steady …
Northwest Oklahoma Only Gets Drier
Northwest Oklahoma continues to be without significant moisture of any kind and according to the Oklahoma Mesonet, reached the 105th straight day without recorded precipitation. State Climatologist Gary McManus is keeping the records and in Wednesday’s Mesonet report, indicated “western OK was left high and dry and dusty” following weekend storms that produced rain for …
Wind Industry Offers $50 million in Higher Taxes
Oklahoma’s wind industry is stepping up to the plate in the growing debate of raising taxes to fix the state’s government budget crisis. It has announced support of a plan to increase tax revenues from wind-generated electricity to $50 million. “As in year’s past, the Oklahoma wind industry againn recognizes the State’s recurring revenue problem …
Oklahoma Energy Taxes Aren’t as Low as Some Claim
Those who attended the 2018 Oklahoma Energy Summit held this week at the State Capitol were told by one economist that the state’s energy tax rates are above average—-not less than some politicians have claimed in the debates over raising gross production taxes. It might have been something that Democratic lawmakers and Step Up Oklahoma …
Bodies of 5 Gas Rig Workers Recovered at Blast Site
The bodies of five missing workers at the site of a gas drilling rig explosion Monday morning in southeast Oklahoma were recovered on Tuesday and their names were released. Pittsburg County Sheriff Chris Morris identified the five as: Josh Ray, 35, of Ft. Worth, Texas; Matt Smith, 29, of McAlester,Oklahoma; Cody Risk, 26, of Wellington, …
Apparent Deadly Gas Rig Blast Leaves 5 Workers Missing at Quinton
It could be overnight when a burning gas wellhead might be extinguished in southeast Oklahoma following a Monday morning blast that left five workers missing and possibly dead and at least one injured. The well, located several miles west of the town of Quinton exploded around 8:45 a.m. and resulted in a massive fire that …
ONEOK’s Predicting Large Growth in 2018
Tulsa-based ONEOK is anticipating 2018 to be a year where the company sees nearly a billion dollars in net earnings and a nearly 10 percent increase in dividend earnings. In releasing its 2018 financial and volume guidance, the company credited growth expectations to be driven by anticipated natural gas and natural gas liquids volume increases …
Update: 5 Workers Still Missing in Gas Rig Explosion near McAlester
updated: 4:15 p.m. Pittsburg County officials say a wellhead fire is still burning out of control after an explosion occurred earlier Monday morning near the small town of Quinton. Five workers remain unaccounted for while 17 others escaped. One of the 17 suffered some burns. He initially declined treatment but a county emergency management spokesman …
Opponents Predict Keystone XL Pipeline Will Never be Built
One of the groups fighting the Keystone XL pipeline in Nebraska is making a bold prediction. “This pipeline will never be built,” declared Bold Nebraska as it updated Keystone opponents. “After TransCanada last week announced shockingly weak support from customers looking to transport tarsands on its proposed Keystone XL pipeline, it has become more clear …