Thursday has been proclaimed an “Oilfield Prayer Day” by Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, but Democratic critic Rep. Richard Morrissette says it should be a day to pray for no more earthquakes.
“I think we should all pray on the 14th to have one day in Oklahoma when we have no earthquakes,” said the legislator who has criticized the Governor and the Corporation Commission for the way they responded to the state’s surge in strong earthquakes. “Maybe the Good Lord will be listening on that day too.”
The Governor called “Oilfield Prayer Day” as a time for all Christians to “thank God for the blessings created by the oil and natural gas industry and to seek His wisdom and ask for protection.”
Rep. Morrissette took note of how the call by the Governor offended some, and not just non-believers. There was Ted Streuli, editor of the Oklahoma City Journal Record who wrote that it is “not prudent for any state to be a prosperous producer and protector of all our valuable resources.”
Streuli said the state is blessed with all kinds of other professionals, not just those in the oil and gas industry who contribute to the state’s welfare.
Rep. Morrissette cited the case of Bill Wietelman who wrote to Tom Beddow, coordinator of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma’s Oil Patch Chaplains ministry, asking if he would “say a prayer for those who have suffered damage to their houses from the earthquakes” triggered by oilpatch saltwater disposal wells.