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September Oil and Gas Gross Production Tax Revenue Still Down from a Year Ago
Revenue from Oklahoma’s gross production tax on oil and natural gas were more than 31% higher than estimated by state officials for the first quarter of the new fiscal year 2017, according to Oklahoma Treasurer Ken Miller. In his Oklahoma Economic Report issued this week, Miller said the allocations from the gross production tax generated …
Cherokee Nation Helps in Hurricane Hunting
Oklahoma’s Cherokee Nation is building on one of its technologies projects—helping Hurricane Hunters through the use of unmanned aircraft. The Cherokee Nation Technologies created a partnership with the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration and NASA to support hurricane forecasting and damage assessment. The Nation uses an unmanned aircraft Global Hawk to fly above recent hurricanes Gaston, …
New Cushing Earthquake Plan Coming Soon from Corporation Commission
“We will be taking further action in the area,” said Matt Skinner with the Oklahoma Corporation Commission following the Sunday night earthquake at Cushing. The Commission’s Oil and Gas Division responded immediately after the 7:44 p.m. earthquake that measured 5.0 magnitude according to the U.S. Geological Survey or 4.6 magnitude according to the Oklahoma Geological …
Cushing Earthquake Leaves Extensive Damage—-One Hurt
Cushing city leaders say it could be another day or two before they’re able to make a total assessment of damage from the 5.0 magnitude earthquake that hit Sunday night. An estimated 40 to 50 buildings were damaged, some extensively and at least one, according to aerial footage indicated it had collapsed and was destroyed. …
Court Rules Against Sierra Club in LNG Export Project at Corpus Christi
The Sierra Club suffered a setback when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled against its challenge of the government’s approval of an LNG export project in Corpus Christi, Texas. The Court upheld the orders of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission which approved the Corpus Christi Liquefaction project of Cheniere Energy. The …
Federal Judge in New Mexico Asked to Keep Environmentalists Out of Lawsuit Against BLM
A lawsuit filed by an oil and gas industry group against the Bureau of Land Management for failing to hold oil and gas lease auctions has taken another turn in New Mexico. The Western Energy Alliance has asked a federal judge to keep nine environmental groups out of the lawsuit, contending groups such as the …
EPA Sued Over Air Pollution from Cattle and Hog Feedlots
The latest lawsuit filed against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency comes from a coalition of environmental, animal rights and citizen action groups who contend the federal government has failed to address air pollution from large-scale livestock farms. Seven environmental groups field suit in the District of Columbia, demanding the EPA respond within 90 days. The …
Pipeline Protesters Want Developer Removed from Texas Commission
Those protesters fighting the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota took their aim recently at the chief executive of the company. They demonstrated outside a meeting of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission where Kelcy Warren, CEO of Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners is a commissioner. Nearly 100 people protested, demanding he resign as commissioner. …
Wind Tax Credit Fight Underway
Oklahoma’s Incentive Evaluation Commission will resume consideration this week of recommendations to cut tax credits to the wind industry sooner than planned. The Commission received recommendations from consultant, Public Financial Management which urged an end to wind tax credits by 2018, rather than Jan. 1, 2021 as the state originally intended. The recommendation is part …
Rig Counts Up in Oklahoma and the U.S.
Rig counts in Oklahoma and across the U.S. rose in the past week with Oklahoma adding 3 more to reach a total of 76 working rigs. Nationally, the count reached 569 with an additional 12 rigs, according to numbers from Houston, Texas-based Baker Hughes. However, the numbers vary greatly since Baker Hughes reports no …