March 6, 2018 archive

Widow Files Suit Over Deadly Drilling Rig Explosion

A woman has filed a wrongful death lawsuit over the death of her husband in the January explosion of a natural gas drilling rig in southeastern Oklahoma.  Four others died in the blast at a well  site near Quinton. Dianna Waldridge of Crescent, whose husband 60-year old Parker Waldridge died in the blast filed suit …

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Coal Ash Contamination Found at Major Coal Plants

  New filings with the Environmental Protection Agency reveal groundwater contamination has been discovered at numerous utility sites of unlined coal ash ponds at coal-burning power plants. The contamination is reported at dozens of plants owned by major utilities such as AEP, Duke Energy, Xcel Energy, the Tennessee Valley Authority and others that complied with …

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Senior Staff Promotions for Sen. Lankford’s Office

  Senator James Lankford (R-OK)  announced two senior staff changes; Michelle Altman has been promoted to Chief of Staff and Sarah Seitz has been promoted to Legislative Director. In December, President Trump nominated Retired Rear Admiral Gregory Slavonic to be the Assistant Secretary of the Navy after serving for four years as Lankford’s Chief of Staff. “Michelle Altman and Sarah Seitz …

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Copper Theft Leads to Charges in OKC

An admitted copper thief in Oklahoma City is charged with 7 counts of larceny, burglary and other charges in relation to the theft of copper from an abandoned Walmart store. Oklahoma County prosecutors filed charges this week against Jeffrey Vaughn Stein, 54, of McCloud.  He allegedly broke into the store at 6000 NW 23rd street …

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New Earthquake Study Recommends New Well Distances from Faults

It seems you can’t turn around without another study involving earthquakes and oil and gas drilling or wastewater injection wells. While residents around Enid this week got a shaking from two 4.2 magnitude earthquakes, a new research study found that the risk is man-made quakes is greatly reduced, or increased due to the distance from …

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Tall Oak Seeks Shippers for Proposed New 80 mile Pipeline in SE Oklahoma

Oklahoma City-based Tall Oak Midstream III announced an open season to secure prospective shippers for an 80-mile natural gas line it wants to build in Southeast Oklahoma. Tall Oak’s Arkoma Residue Capacity or ARC Pipeline will connect to Tall Oak’s planned Panther Creek Natural Gas Processing Plant in Hughes County and a planned receipt point …

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USGS Study Shows Frac Sand Could Come from River Dredging

A study by the U.S. Geological Survey showed that drilling companies could save money by using sediment from water reservoirs and rivers rather than the more costly frac sand from the upper MidWest. The study focused on the dredging operations of reservoirs in the Missouri River Basin. It found that using the dredged sand could …

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President’s Tariffs Will Increase Pipeline Construction Costs

The CEO of Plains All American Pipeline, the firm with huge pipeline and storage operations in Oklahoma warns steel tariffs proposed by President Trump will hurt the pipeline construction industry in the U.S. Greg Armstrong told those attending CERAWeek by IHS Markit conference in Houston that certain sizes of steel pipe and valves were only …

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IEA Predicts Lack of Oil Pipelines Could Hurt North American Oil Exports

The International Energy Agency is predicting if delays for pipeline approvals continue in the U.S. and Canada continues pumping more oil from tarsands, there could be reductions in export capacity. The IEA came out with its annual five-year oil forecast on Monday and warned the Canadian oil pipeline constraints are part of a wider capacity …

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Hamm’s Skepticism of Oil Forecasts Gets Support

Oklahoma oilman Harold Hamm has some support in his criticism of government forecasts of oil production in the U.S. Mark Papa, former CEO of EOG Resources and current Chairman and CEO of Centennial Resource Development recently expressed the same skepticism of the forecasts coming from the U.S. Energy Information Administration and others. He contends U.S. …

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