In a move aimed at identifying government waste and improving transparency, U.S. Sen. James Lankford and Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) have introduced a bipartisan bill. They call it the Inspector General Recommendation Transparency Act that would fill a gap in federal management and help Congress do a better job overseeing 73 federal agencies where Inspectors …
A decision by the U.S. government to get out of the commercial helium business in the next five years has refiners and customers looking to Canada to fill their helium needs. A majority of the U.S. helium demand is filled by an underground reserve in Amarillo, Texas. The reserve supplies everything from party balloons to …
California-based Pattern Energy Group Inc., a firm with 17 wind farm operations around the world including two in Texas and one in Kansas is spending $269 million to buy a majority interest in a 324-megawatt wind farm in New Mexico. Pattern purchased an 84 percent initial cash flow for Broadview Wind located 30 miles north …
Weyerhaeuser Company, the firm with big operations in southeast Oklahoma just ran into a federal court ruling in Louisiana and it focuses on the endangered dusky gopher frog. The Fifth Circuit recently rejected the timber giant’s appeal of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to declare 1,600 acres of private property in Louisiana as …
A General Electric employee sustained serious injuries while working on a wind turbine in south-central Kansas during a Sunday morning accident, according to a news report published in the Tulsa World. The employee was repairing a wind generator blade near Pratt, Kansas when he fell 120 feet, landing on his back in muddy terrain. He …
Oklahoma City’s Chesapeake Energy has been hit again with a lawsuit charging irregularities in contracts covering royalties of hundreds of wells around Fort Worth, Texas. And the law firm that filed the suit is the same one that sued Chesapeake more than four months ago, accusing it of conspiring to rig bids for leases in …
Now under the leadership of a new chairman of the board of directors, Tulsa'[s Williams Companies is moving ahead following the shakeup over the failed attempt to remove Alan Armstrong as Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Kathleen Cooper, a current director and Audit Committee member was named Chairman, replacing Frank T. MacInnis who resigned following …
Halliburton has renamed Mark McCollum as the Houston company’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. The announcement says the appointment will be effective immediately. McCollum will continue reporting to Dave Lesar, Chairman and Chief Executive Office at the company and will also remain a member of the company’s Executive Committee. Christian Garcia, who …
New rules have been published by the U.S. Department of Interior updating the lease royalties for minerals on federal and Native American lands and how they are calculated. The government claims it is a change that will make sure taxpayers get all the revenue they deserve. The new rules will apply to any Native American …
Now that the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against Minnesota’s restrictions on out-of-state coal-fired plants, the state of North Dakota wants Minnesota to pay its $300,000 legal tab run up in fighting the rules. The Eighth Circuit recently ruled in favor of North Dakota in its legal fight against Minnesota’s Next Generation Energy …
