“Pruitt should have to be held accountable for this.” Daniel Stevens The story of the decision by Scott Pruitt before he took over the EPA, then his successor in the Oklahoma Attorney General’s office, Mike Hunter, to withhold an audit critical of the multi-million dollar buyout of homes at the Tar Creek Superfund site has …
December 2017 archive
VW Executive Gets 7 Years in Emissions Cheating Scandal
While Oklahoma awaits its payout from Volkswagen over the emissions cheating scandal, a top VW executive has been sentenced to 7 years in prison for his role in what happened. “I only have myself to blame,” said Oliver Schmidt during his sentencing on Wednesday in Detroit federal court. “I accept the punishment.” He had asked …
Williams Cos. Fights Lawsuit in Delaware Supreme Court
Arguments were heard this week in the Delaware Supreme Court in a lawsuit against Tulsa’s Williams Companies over its failed 2015 merger with Energy Transfer Equity of Dallas. The suit stems from a derivative case filed by a stockholder seeking damages for a $428 million payout by The Williams Cos., a case that had been …
Google to Get More Power From Oklahoma Wind Farms
Google’s made another big move toward getting electrical power from wind farms in Oklahoma and South Dakota. The company announced this week it is buying 536 megawatts of new wind capacity from four U.S. wind farms. One of the farms is the Red Dirt wind farm in Oklahoma. Google signed an agreement with the Grand …
Unexpected Increase in Gasoline Inventories Sends Oil Prices Downward
A report from the American Petroleum Institute that the nation has a whopping 9,196-million-barrel build in gasoline inventories, oil prices both in the U.S. and overseas dropped in Wednesday’s trading. West Texas Intermediate crude fell $1.66 in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, hitting $55.96 per barrel. That’s a drop of 2.88% from the …
Williams Puts Another East-Coast Gas Pipeline into Service
Tulsa’s Williams Partners L.P. announced this week it has put into service an expansion project of one of its natural gas lines along the east coast. The expansion applies to the Virginia Southside II project, the fifth of Transco’s “Big 5” expansions to enter service this year, according to the announcement. The five fully-contracted expansion …
Need for Crude Oil Pipelines in Permian Prompts One Firm to Convert
The conversion should be completed in the first half of 2020 and will provide the partnership with total crude oil pipeline capacity of more than 650,000 barrels a day out of the Permian. The oil will be carried to Enterprise’s crude oil hub in the Houston area. The company has three existing NGL pipelines stretching …
Judge Orders Pipeline Owner to Create Oil-Spill Plan
Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners has been given until April 1 by a Washington D.C. federal Judge to create an oil-spill response plan for its controversial Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg issued the order nearly six months after he ruled the Army Corps of Engineers should review the project that …
GOP Candidate Calls Turnpike Rate Hike a “stunt” and “scam”
At least one political candidate is reacting with anger over the move by the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority to raise the cost of driving on the turnpikes. GOP Gubernatorial hopeful Gary Richardson, who says the turnpikes should be free to drive on, called the move an “absolute outrage.” “I can’t believe our state ‘leaders’ have the …
Appointments of New Leaders of State Senate Committees Made This Week
New leaders of Oklahoma Senate committees including those of Energy and Transportation were named this week by Senate President Pro Tempore Mike Schulz. He filled vacancies in leadership positions in various committees. Sen. Mark Allen, R-Spiro was named chair of the Senate Energy Committee. Sen. Eddie Fields, R-Wynona was appointed vice-chair. The new head …