Author's posts
Major Traffic Headaches Coming for OKC’s I-235 Drivers
State Transportation Commissioners will meet Monday to consider the single largest contract in the history of the Oklahoma Department of Transportation. Commissioners are expected to vote on approval of an $81 million contract with possible financial incentives for the project to reconstruct and widen I-235 and replace the NW 50th Street and BNSF railroad …
Tulsa Federal Judge Tosses Challenge to Merger of Williams Cos. and Energy Transfer Equity
Tulsa Federal Judge Gregory Frizzell has tossed a legal challenge filed against the merger of the Williams Companies, Inc. and Energy Transfer Equity of Dallas, Texas. The judge ruled against John Bumgarner, a Williams company retiree who was a senior vice president of planning and development for the company. He contended that statements made at the …
Small Earthquakes Spark Fracking Probe in Pennsylvania
While it’s become routine in Oklahoma to wonder about the connection between earthquakes and fracking sites, Pennsylvania has launched an investigation into a recent similar occurrence. The quakes that occurred around a fracking site in western Pennsylvania measured only 1.9 magnitude. But now the Pennsylvania Department of environmental Protection has started an investigation to …
Legislator calls Corporation Commission vote a “catastrophe”
One of those critical of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission’s decision to allow OG&E install a $500,000 scrubber at its coal-fired power plant at Red Rock is Rep. Richard Morrissette. The Oklahoma City Democrat is also a candidate for Corporation Commissioner Dana Murphy’s seat and called the recent Commission vote a “catastrophe.” “For this state and …
Corporation Commissioners Defend Controversial Approval of OGE Coal Plant Plan
The Oklahoma Corporation Commission’s controversial decision allowing OG&E to install a $500,000 scrubber on its coal-fired Sooner Power Plant at Red Rock is being called a “catastrophe” by critics and a forced decision by “Big Brother” by one commissioner. It took only 8 minutes for the Commission to meet and make the decision, one …
Armed Services Committee Votes Against Protection for Greater Sage Grouse
The U.S. House Armed Services Committee, including Oklahoma Representatives Steve Russell and Jim Bridenstine turned back a move by a Democratic Representative to strip part of a national defense spending bill that included exemption of protection for the greater sage-grouse on military lands. The vote was 27-35 against removing the limits as part of …
ETE Announces Quarterly Cash Distribution
Energy Transfer Equity, L.P., the company involved in a messy merger with Tulsa-based Williams Cos. has announced a quarterly cash distribution of $0.285 per common unit. That figures to be $1.14 per unit on an annualized basis or a 16-cent a unit increase. It is also a 16% increase compared to the first quarter of …
Oil and Gas Employment Holds Steady in Oklahoma…..Government Employment Continues to Grow
While the state’s oil and gas industry held its own in March, the latest employment report from the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission indicates there was still a loss of at least 600 jobs from March 2015 to this year. The reported indicated the oil and gas sector, defined in the Commission’s Mining and Logging division …
ConocoPhillips Reports $1.5 billion in First-Quarter Losses
ConocoPhillips says it lost nearly $1.5 billion in the first quarter of 2016 so it has reduced its 2016 capital spending as a result of the impact of the industry’s low energy prices. The Company, with major operations in Ponca City and Bartlesville reported a first quarter loss of $1.47 billion or $1.18 a …
Inhofe says Oklahoma Will Gain from New Water Development Act
Senator Jim Inhofe says as chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, he’s been able to get a Water Resources Development Act of 2016 approved that will directly benefit Oklahoma. “WRDA 2016 ensures that Oklahoma projects, including the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System and the Tulsa and West Tulsa Levee System, continue …