Author's posts
Scott Pruitt’s Religious Faith and How It Applies to His EPA Leadership
As the new administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt’s taken a lot of fire from critics. Environmentalists have explored and closely examined his communications with oil and gas groups, his lawsuits against the Obama administration’s EPA and his decisions regarding environmental issues in Oklahoma. Not until now has his religious faith been explored …
Small Operators in Permian Basin Feel the Pinch With $45 Oil
While crude oil prices bounce around the $45 a barrel mark, it’s making life tough for some small independents as they seek to find black gold in the Permian Basin in west Texas. The Houston Chronicle reports some are thinking of delaying exploration projects as money is tight. The paper quoted James Mayer, founder and …
Coal Train Derails Near Eastern Town of Okay
The good news is no one was hurt. The bad news is more than two dozen train cars loaded with coal derailed Wednesday afternoon near the Wagoner County town of Okay. The Union Pacific Railroad said 27 cars derailed and some flipped onto their sides while others remained upright. An estimated 2,000 feet of track …
Work Moves Ahead on Upgrading Mustang Power Plant
In about two months, the first of seven new turbines being installed as part of a massive upgrading of OGE’s Mustang Power Plant will be “fired up.” The company’s in the middle of the project that started nearly 18 months ago to replace turbines put in place in the 1950s. An estimated 350 employees are …
Pruitt Labels Germany’s Nuclear Power Plant Move as “Hyprocisy”
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has political tongues wagging in Washington, D-C. after saying German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s move to phase out her country’s nuclear power plants is hypocritical. And she likely won’t be saying, “das gut” in response. “I just think the hypocrisy runs rampant,” he said in an interview with Politico. “To look at us …
“Intrinsic Fraud” in Pooling Case Back Before Corporation Commission
An Administrative Law Judge at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission is set to hold a pooling hearing on Friday in a nearly decade old legal fight between two exploration companies that involved what the courts ruled to be “intrinsic fraud.” It’s a fight between Denver, Colorado-based Optima Oil and Gas and Mewbourne Oil Company, a Tyler, …
Bobcat Paid the Price for Its Pole Climbing
It’s not unusual to hear of a snake slithering into a power station and causing a power outage. But how about the bobcat found dead hanging from a 35-foot power pole in southwest Kansas. A line crew with Wheatland Electric made the discovery this week near the town of Lakin. The bobcat apparently climbed up …
Energy Firms Helped With Job Creation in 2nd Quarter
Energy companies were among the 23 that made new investments in Oklahoma in the second quarter of 2017, according to a quarterly report from the Oklahoma Commerce Department. The investments totaled $680 million and more than 1,100 jobs are to be created as a result. Eight of the 23 firms are new to Oklahoma. The …
Devon Announces 6,000 Barrel Well in STACK
In what is perhaps the largest well to be drilled in Oklahoma’s STACK, Devon Energy of Oklahoma City announced a record well reaching 6,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day. It’s a Meramec well in southwest Kingfisher County. The company said the Privott 17-H well achieved a facility-constrained peak 24-hour rate of 6,000 oil-equivalent barrels …
Ohio’s Going After Energy Transfer Partners Over Spills
Ohio’s demanding nearly $1 million from Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, the company that built the Dakota Access Pipeline that drew thousands of protesters last year in North Dakota. This time, the claim involves the company’s $4.2 billion gas pipeline called Rover which leaked more than 2 million dollars of drilling mud into Stark County wetlands. …