February 2025 archive

Energy briefs

** Iowa House lawmakers advance bills that would strengthen eminent domain protections, limit permit lengths and include more involvement of a consumer advocacy office in an effort to clamp down on carbon pipelines. ** The federal Bonneville Power Administration could lose up to 20% of its workforce to the Trump administration’s job cuts and hiring freeze, raising concerns about …

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Former Corporation Commissioner says Rep. Caldwell’s electric transmission bill is “wrongheaded”

  Rep. Trey Caldwell of Lawton doesn’t refer to the controversial issue of ROFR or Right of First Refusal in his HB2747, a bill dealing with competitive bidding by utilities. But former Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner Jim Roth says it’s a ROFR bill and he’s against it. “That’s not accelerating economic development. It’s not consistent with …

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Crude oil and OK energy stocks finished down on Friday

  Crude oil prices and most Oklahoma energy stocks finished down in Friday’s trading as analysts blamed the prospects for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine for possibly easing global supply disruptions. The disruptions might end if US oil sanctions were ended against Moscow. West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark in the U.S. dropped 55 …

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Legislator files another Supreme Court challenge of Todd Hiett’s votes

One of the three Republican legislators who took Corporation Commissioner Todd Hiett to court over the sexual abuse allegations against him, filed another appeal with the Supreme Court on Thursday, this one challenging the recently-approved PSO rate hike. The challenge by Rep. Tom Gann, Inola, came only days after the court dismissed the appeal he …

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Oil prices remained steady on Thursday

  Crude oil prices saw a drop of a few cents in Thursday’s trading as two developments affected trading—the potential peace deal between Russia and Ukraine and the pause in new U.S. tariffs. The small drop came after losses of more than 1% earlier in the session and the slight improvement has some optimistic that …

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Bracing for even colder weather next week?

  That best sums up how Oklahoma Climatologist Gary McManus looks at what might happen next week in the state as another arctic blast is expected to settle over the state and the midwest. ” — it would appear after another roller coaster few days of cold-warm-cold-warm, we’ll see another bigtime arctic blast early next week, that …

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Arkansas EV truck maker moving to Houston

  Arkansas EV manufacturer Envirotech Vehicles Inc. sees a brighter future in Texas, not Arkansas. The company announced this week it is moving headquarters and operations from Osceola in far eastern Arkansas to Houston, Texas where it finds more business advantages.  But it will keep the 580,000 square foot manufaturing facility in Osceola. In Houston, …

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Sen. Lankford attacks Biden Administration in latest Federal Fumbles book

  Elon Musk and Oklahoma U.S. Sen. James Lankford have something in common—-each is focused on eliminating government waste. Each is also highly critical of what the Biden administration’s green new energy plan did to the nation’s energy industry. Musk, of course, is in charge of DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency while Sen. Lankford …

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Mach’s public offering leads to expanded sales

  Underwriters of a public offering of nearly 13 million shares in Mach Natural Resources LP apparently want more. The Oklahoma City energy company announced this week that the underwriters of its previously announced public offering of 12,903,226 common units representing limited partner interests in Mach have fully exercised their option to purchase an additional 1,935,483 …

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Lankford supports bill to end EV tax credits

  Oklahoma U.S. Sen. James Lankford was among those who supported legislation filed this week to bring an end to EV tax credits. The measure, as filed by Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the Senate Majority Whip, stops taxpayer money from subsidizing luxury electric vehicle for high-income individuals and corporations. The Eliminating Lavish Incentives to Electric …

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