Author's posts
Senators Fear Loss of Biofuel Production to Overseas Operations
No Oklahoma Senators are among them, but 39 U.S. Senators have sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy urging her agency to ensure the final 2017 Renewable Fuel Standard rule promotes growth in the U.S. rather than overseas. The 2017 proposal calls on refiners to blend 14.8 billion gallons of …
Ruling Expected Soon in Williams and ETE Fight
A Delaware judge overseeing the legal fight between Williams Cos. of Tulsa and Energy Transfer Equity promises to have a ruling by Friday. The commitment came earlier this week from Judge Sam Glascock who’s been hearing arguments in the conflicts between the two companies that proposed a $38 billion merger last fall. The suit was …
Inhofe and Cole Applaud Judge’s Ruling on Fracking Regulations
“I’m glad to see energy production put back into the hands of hard-working Americans.” Rep. Tom Cole The Wyoming judge who ruled against the Obama administration’s fracking regulations gets strong support from two Oklahoma congressmen. ‘I applaud the federal judge who stood by the law and struck down this unnecessary, politically-motivated power grab,” …
Tulsa Driller Files Suit over Earthquake Insurance Coverage
Facing five lawsuits and being accused of causing earthquakes in the state, Tulsa-based New Dominion LLC has gone to court against underwriters Lloyd’s of London. The company filed suit in Tulsa County District court claiming the company and Mark Tedford and his firm, Tedford & Associates LLC misled the firm about earthquake damage and whether …
Chicago Residents Say Koch Industries Settlement Not Enough
A few months after Wichita-based Koch Industries agreed to a tentative settlement in a 2013 class action lawsuit over its storage of oil refining byproducts in Chicago, homeowners are asking a federal judge to turn down the $1.4 million in settlements. In a filing this week, 20 of the plaintiffs who live in neighborhoods on …
White House calls Judge’s Fracking Ruling a “temporary setback”
The Obama administration is not happy after a Wyoming federal judge ruled against hydraulic fracturing rules created by the Bureau of Land Management covering oil and gas drilling on federal and Indian lands. A spokeswoman defended what she called “modernized fracking requirements” and said they “are aimed at ensuring adequate well control, preventing groundwater contamination …
Drought Not Quite Exists in the State
The latest Drought Monitor shows Oklahoma has yet to return to a drought but 17 percent of the state is listed as “abnormally dry.” The abnormally dry areas are in north central, north east and east central Oklahoma. “But the rainfall statistics over the last 60 days probably warrant drought designation justification,” said Gary McManus, …
Another Week—-Another Court Ruling Against Obama Administration’s Environmental Efforts
“Another week, another court ruling against the Obama administration,” is the reaction of U.S. Sen. James Lankford to a federal judge’s ruling this week that the federal government could not create rules banning fracking on federal and Indian lands. “This is something already regulated by the states,” said the Senator in an interview with OK …
President Signs First Major Environmental Reform in More than 25 Years
Oklahoma U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe calls the Toxic Substance Control Act long overdue and also the first major environmental reform to be enacted in over a quarter century. It is the Frank Lautenberg act nursed through committee by the Senator and others and was signed into law Wednesday by President Obama. It was January 9, 2015 when …
Two Oilfield Deaths in Past Week in North Dakota
North Dakota has experienced its second oilfield fatality in the past week. The latest was a 36-year-old man struck by the boom of a crane being used to remove pipe out of the ground. He worked for a Michigan-based drilling contractor hired to perform work on the well that is owned by Houston-based EOG …
