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California Jury Indicts Pipeline Company Over 2015 Oil Spill
Houston-based Plains All-American Pipeline has been indicted on criminal charges by a California grand jury over the May 2015 Santa Barbara oil spill that released about 3,000 barrels of oil onto a beach and into the Pacific Ocean. At least 4 criminal charges were returned by the grand jury including four felonies charged the firm …
Governor Signs Water Protection Bill into Law
One of the bills signed into law this week by Gov. Mary Fallin was HB 2446, a water protection bill. Authored by Rep. Terry O’Donnell and Sen. Dan Newberry, the measure “declares the protection of the beneficial uses of provided bodies of water in Oklahoma to be a compelling state interest subject to legislative authority …
TransCanada Expands Holdings in the U.S.
TransCanada, the company still fighting to build the Keystone XL pipeline across the Midwest is buying Columbia Pipeline Group Inc. in a nearly $13 billion agreement. It also owns and operates the Keystone pipeline extending from Cushing, Oklahoma south to the Gulf Coast. Columbia’s Board of Directors has unanimously approved the deal involving a …
BIA Argues Osage Co. Oil Producers Lawsuit Cannot be Heard Until Administrative Steps Are Finished
Tulsa U.S. District Judge Gregory K. Frizzell now must decide whether to allow oil and gas producers in Osage County proceed with their lawsuit against the Bureau of Indian Affairs or dismiss the suit filed in 2015. Both sides, the Osage Producers Association that sued the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the BIA …
$1 billion Wind Farm Proposed for Eastern Colorado
A $1 billion wind farm is being proposed for northeast Colorado by the state’s largest electric utility. Xcel Energy has filed documents with the Public Utilities Commission to build the Rush Creek Wind Project over 90,000 acres in Arapahoe, Cheyenne, Elbert, Kit Carson and Lincoln counties. Once completed the 300-turbine farm would generate …
Indian Tribe Loses Fight to Block Offshore Wind Farm
A federal judge in Rhode Island has ruled against the Narragansett Indian Tribe in its fight to block construction of the nation’s first offshore wind farm. The tribe had sought a temporary restraining order against installation of a transmission cable, contending Indian artifacts had been discovered and improperly removed during the digging of a trench. …
Texas Attorney General Fights Back Against Attacks on Exxon Mobil
While Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt’s attacking Democratic Attorneys General for targeting energy firms, the Attorney General in Texas has gone to court asking a judge to block U.S. Virgin Islands officials from subpoenaing 40 years of internal climate change documents from Exxon Mobil Corp. Ken Paxton calls it “a fishing expedition of the …
More Energy Firms Prepare for Bankruptcy
This week’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by Oklahoma City-based SandRidge energy brought the number of energy producers in bankruptcy to 77 since the beginning of 2015, according to Haynes and Boone, the bankruptcy law firm based in Texas. It also raised the total of secured and unsecured liabilities and debt in the cases to nearly …
Pruitt Says Democratic AGs and Left are Trying to Criminalize Free Speech
The 16 Democratic Attorneys General who plan to use their subpoena power to target oil companies and utilities in a fight over global warming have run into a buzz saw with Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, a man who calls a spade a spade. “This is all about trying to take the courts and the …
Gasoline Hits $2 average in Oklahoma
Oklahoma’s gasoline prices are now up to $2 a gallon, according to the latest report from AAA Oklahoma. The $2 threshold was broken on Saturday for the first time since mid-November 2015 but the average dipped slightly on Sunday, finally settling at $2.003. A week ago, the statewide average was $1.95 a gallon. “There’s quite …