Author's posts
Wastewater Well Protester Discovers Mistake in KCC Permits
A Kansas resident fighting proposed wastewater injection wells has stumbled onto a mistake in permitting by the Kansas Corporation Commission. Cindy Hoedel of Matfield Green was poring over the requests of companies when she found the operators had not accurately informed nearby residents of their rights to protest the wells. Now the KCC is figuring …
Massive Water Well Project Announced in West Texas
A Houston area company has plans to drill more than 100 water wells in West Texas so it can sell water to oil companies in the Permian Basin. Layne Christensen is partnering with the state of Texas in the project. The deal is with the Texas General Land Office headed by George P. Bush and …
Republicans Pass Gross Production Tax Bill But Not One Wanted by Democrats
Under a bill offered and passed by Republicans in the Oklahoma House on Wednesday, gross production taxes on so-called Legacy wells would be increased from 4 percent to 7 percent, raising nearly 450 million in the last half of FY 18. House Bill 1085X would also raise another $100 million for the entire FY 19. …
Drop in 3Q Earnings Reported by Chesapeake Energy
Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy reported a drop in third-quarter earnings on Thursday. The net loss to shareholders was $41 million or 5 cents per share from $1.2 billion or $1.62 cents a share a year earlier. Its bottom line rose to $106 million or $0.12 a share, higher than $73 million or $0.09 a share …
Oil and Gas Employment Slipped in OKC and Tulsa in September
Jobless rates in September improved across Oklahoma, slipping in 71 of the state’s 77 counties according to the latest employment report from the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission. But oil and gas employment fell in the state’s two major cities. Rates rose in five counties and were unchanged in one county compared to one year ago. …
Rocky Start for Rep. Bridenstine’s NASA Confirmation Hearing
The confirmation hearing for Oklahoma U.S. Rep. Jim Bridenstine to become the next Administrator at NASA got off to a bumpy start on Wednesday when he was attacked by the leading Democratic Senator on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. The attack was launched by Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida who accused Bridenstine of …
Group Starts Petition Drive for Vote to Raise Taxes on Oil and Gas
The Oklahoma Energy Producers Alliance says it’s starting a petition drive to let Oklahoma voters decide whether there should be an increase in the gross production tax on oil and gas. Some of the vertical well producers who belong to the OEPA voted at their October board meeting to support putting the issue on a …
Blueknight Energy Makes $32 million Acquisition
A more than $32 million deal’s been announced by Oklahoma City-based Blueknight Energy Partners L.P. in the acquisition of two asphalt terminalling operations in Georgia and Oklahoma. The company said the $32.5 million purchase includes a facility in Bainbridge, Georgia owned by Ergon Asphalt and Emulsions, Inc. A plant in Muskogee owned by Frontier Terminal …
Gas Service Restored to Women’s Prison in OKC
Gas service was restored late Tuesday night to the Oklahoma City Community Corrections Center. Spokesman Matt Elliott said heat to the rooms and hot water was returning. The center, home to more than 250 women inmates had been without gas service since Saturday when natural gas was smelled outside the facility.
TU Law Professor Blames Himself for How Pruitt’s Running the EPA
A Tulsa University law school professor is apologizing for what he might have taught EPA Chief Scott Pruitt when he was in law school saying Pruitt brought a new level of “politicization” to the EPA. Writing in the Santa Fe New Mexican, Rex Zedalis said, “I confess regret for whatever small role I played in …