Author's posts
Oklahoma’s Unemployment Rate Sees Slight Improvement
Oklahoma’s jobless rate fell slightly in November, reaching 5.1 percent but it remains a full one percent higher than one year ago according to figures released by the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission. The one-tenth of a percent drop translated into trimming the number of unemployed by 2,000 over the month to an estimated 93,055. But …
Texas is Getting Another Wind Farm
Texas is getting another major wind farm, this time in the far southern reaches of the state in Willacy County. Construction on Bruenning’s Breeze Wind Farm is underway by E.ON. It is E.ON’s 22nd wind farm in the U.S. and the second in Willacy County, Texas. The 228 megawatt farm will consist of 76 …
Iowa Farmers Protest Dakota Access Pipeline
A district judge in Des Moines, Iowa is considering the protests of landowners who contend they were forced by a Texas oil company to allow the firm to build the Dakota Access oil pipeline on their land. Arguments were heard late last week in the lawsuit filed by about a dozen landowners who have challenged …
Pruitt’s Environmental Actions Under Question
One of the topics Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt might have to answer during his confirmation hearing to become Environmental Protection Agency Administrator is why he eliminated the Environmental Protection Unit in his state office six years ago. The subject was raised in a recent Environment and Energy article by reporter Mike Soraghan who noted …
Rig Count Slips in Oklahoma but Grows Nationally
While the oil and gas rig count slipped in Oklahoma in the past week, the count grew by 13 nationwide, according to Houston-based Baker Hughes Company. Oklahoma’s count fell to 78, compared to 86 a year ago. Nationwide, the count added 13 to reach 637 including a dozen more oil rigs and one more …
Sierra Club to Pruitt and Trump Supporters—–Get Ready to be Disappointed
The Sierra Club has widened its nationwide fundraising effort on the backs of Donald Trump and the man he has nominated to run the Environmental Protection Agency—-Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt. “Get ready to be disappointed,” wrote Michael Brune, Executive Director of the Sierra Club in his latest email pitch asking for contributions. “We’re launching …
Pruitt ‘right person to fix EPA’?
Count Justin Haskins as a supporter of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to be head of the Environmental Protection Agency under the new Donald Trump administration. Haskins happens to be Executive Editor of the Chicago-based Heartland Institute and calls Pruitt “the right person to fix broken EPA.” Writing in the Sunday edition of The …
Key Energy Emerges From Bankruptcy
Another energy company that filed Chapter 11 has emerged from bankruptcy. Houston-based Key Energy made the announcement, stating that it was also relisting on the New York Stock Exchange after eliminating $694 million of its long-term debt in the reorganization. It also shed more than $45 million of annual interest expense going forward, according …
Krauthammer on Pruitt—–“most incendiary nomination by far”
Conservative writer Charles Krauthammer calls Donald Trump’s nomination of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt “the most incendiary nomination by far” of those picked by Trump to be leaders in his incoming administration. In his Dec. 16 column titled “The Trump Cabinet: Bonfire of the Agencies,” Krauthammer wrote, “Pruitt’s is the most important nomination because it …
Corbett to Chesapeake Board of Directors
Chesapeake Energy has added Luke R. Corbett to its Board of Directors. The Oklahoma City-based company said the appointment was effective Dec. 14 and Corbett will serve as a member of the Audit Committee and the Nominating, Governance and Social Responsibility Committee. Corbett will also stand for re-election at the 2017 annual meeting of shareholders …