Gas line explosion investigated in Kansas

    Northern Natural Gas is investigating a series of gas incidents in the past several days in central Kansas including a gas explosion near Ellsworth. Earlier in the week, the company dealt with a gas leak near the Rice County town of Lyons, just south of the gas explosion. The blast happened on one …

Continue reading »

New Mexico utility customers with unpaid bills may face shutoffs in August

    Public Service Company of New Mexico, the state’s largest utility says an estimated 50,000 customer could lose their power due to shutoffs if they don’t take steps as the pandemic moratorium on electricity payments ends. That’s the number of customers who have past-due bills and might lose their power as soon as mid-August …

Continue reading »

Rep. Lucas urges watershed, flood control dam infrastructure investments

Click here to watch Lucas’ Floor speech. Click here to download Lucas’ Floor speech. Congressman Frank Lucas (OK-03) took to the House Floor recently about the importance of investing in watershed and flood control dam infrastructure. Oklahoma leads the nation with 2,107 upstream flood control dams constructed under the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Watershed Program. …

Continue reading »

113 interim study requests approved by OK House leadership

   Lawmaker requests for 113 interim studies have been approved in the Oklahoma House of Representatives and only a handful relate to energy issues. Of the 136 interim study requests from House members, House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, approved 107 outright and combined 12 requests of similar topics into six approved requests. The 113 approved …

Continue reading »

ERCOT braces for record power demand

  As the hottest weather of the summer approaches this week, Texas power grid operators are assuring customers there will be plenty of electricity to keep them cool in the face of anticipated record demand. The interim CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Brad Jones would not rule out the possibility of calling …

Continue reading »

Energy news in brief

** Over 100 House Democrats are insisting infrastructure legislation includes enough money to remove all lead pipes in the country. ** The Energy Department plans to push state and local governments to adopt energy efficiency building codes that could dramatically slash greenhouse gas emissions, Secretary Jennifer Granholm announced. **  Solar manufacturers are pressing Biden in a new letter to support inclusion …

Continue reading »

Oil and gas rig numbers increased in US and Oklahoma

  The number of oil and gas rigs exploring for new energy increased in Oklahoma to reach 30 while nationally, the rig count grew by 7 to reach 491. Oklahoma’s count was up one from a week ago and 20 higher than a year ago according to figures provided by Baker Hughes. The U.S. count …

Continue reading »

Oil made more gains but Oklahoma energy stocks had a weak showing

  Thursday’s trading brought another gain in crude oil prices as they rose nearly $1.50 a barrel in the US and in Europe but the increase didn’t do much for Oklahoma energy stocks. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery finished up $1.61 to finish the day at $71.91 a barrel. Global benchmark Brent crude …

Continue reading »

Lankford opposes nominee who offered misleading testimony, environmental extremism

CLICK HERE to download Lankford’s Q&A from Box. CLICK HERE to watch Lankford’s Q&A from YouTube. A Senate Energy committee on Thursday sent a 10-10 tie vote to the full Senate on the nomination of Biden’s pick to be Director of the Bureau of Land Management after Republicans accused her of lying to them. Sen. James Lankford, …

Continue reading »

Inhofe slams Democrats for forcing vote on unwritten bill

  As one of the Republican Senators who stopped Democrats from passing an unwritten infrastructure bill this week, Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe called it nothing but a “stunt” by Democratic leadership. Wednesday’s procedural vote failed to reach the 60 required votes by a margin of 49-51 as Democrats tried to force unilateral approval to advance …

Continue reading »