** The cancellation of three offshore drilling lease sales this week has injected a degree of uncertainty into the future of offshore drilling reported The Hill. The canceled auctions mean there are no sales now scheduled, and it’s unclear precisely when that will change. The Interior Department is working on a new leasing plan, but it has not said …
Category: EPA
Mullin and others to grill EPA Administrator over budget request
If it’s Tuesday, then EPA Administrator Michael Regan will face some budget questions from Oklahoma Congressman Markwayne Mullin and others on a subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Rep. Mullin, a Republican, sits on the committee’s Environment and Climate Change Subcommittee and will review Regan’s $11.9 billion budget request during a hearing …
Oklahoma joins in lawsuit challenging California’s EPA exemption
As he seeks his first election to remain as Oklahoma Attorney General, John O’Connor on Friday joined 16 other Republican state attorneys general in suing the EPA for allowing California to set its own vehicle emissions standards. The Hill reported the lawsuit accuses EPA Administrator Michael Regan of violating the Constitution’s doctrine of equal …
Inhofe presses White House on forever chemical foot-dragging
As he pressed the Biden administration for a timetable on the cleanup of “forever” chemicals used on military bases in the U.S., Oklahoma U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe didn’t get the answers he sought in a recent Senate committee hearing. It was during a hearing by the Environment and Public Works Committee of which Inhofe …
Oklahoma receives $2 million EPA grant for site cleanups
Oklahoma has received a $2 million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency, one of 265 Brownfield grants out of a total of $254.5 million to help clean up polluted areas of the country. The Oklahoma grant was made to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission where spokesman Matt Skinner called it a “very large grant” that …
Other energy headlines
** Cleaner air in United States and Europe is brewing more Atlantic hurricanes, a new U.S. government study found. ** The House Natural Resources Committee announced its first-ever criminal referral to the Department of Justice on Wednesday, asking it to investigate whether Mike Ingram, an Arizona real estate developer and a campaign donor to Donald Trump, bribed public officials …
Other energy headlines
** The Colonial Pipeline could get a $1 million fine following its shutdown of the key fuel supply artery to the East Coast last year prompted by Russian-based hackers. ** Boeing Co said on Thursday it will move its headquarters from Chicago to Arlington, Virginia, as the crisis-plagued U.S. planemaker works to repair relationships with customers, …
Senate confirms EPA nominee
Oklahoma U.S. Sens. Jim Inhofe and James Lankford were among those voting recently to confirm President Biden’s nomination of Dr. Kathryn Huff to be an Assistant Secretary of Energy for Nuclear Energy. The Senate vote was 80-11 and the two senators voted to support Huff’s nomination. West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin who chairs …
PSO honored by EPA
Public Service Company of Oklahoma announced it has been selected as a 2022 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year winner for Sustained Excellence. This award is reserved for ENERGY STAR partners demonstrating outstanding leadership, year over year, from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy. “The 2022 ENERGY STAR award recognizes …
Mullin introduces bill targeting Biden’s NEPA changes
Oklahoma Congressman Markwayne Mullin targeted President Biden’s move to roll back President Trump’s National Environmental Policy Act reforms adopted in July of 2020. He filed a bill called the “Stop NEPA Expansion Act” which would prevent Biden from requiring federal agencies to take a “hard look” at the impact of major highway, pipeline and …
