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Wyoming Family Wins Pond Fight With EPA
Then there’s the Wyoming family that the Environmental Protection Agency threatened to fine more than $187,000 a day because it wanted to build a pond on their property in 2013. So Andy Johnson of Fort Bridger, Wyoming decided to fight and now he’s won. Republican U.S. Sen. John Barrasso announced the Johnsons will be able …
Worker Killed in Accident at Beaumont Refinery
Details have yet to be released but a work-place death occurred early Wednesday at the ExxonMobil plant in Beaumont, Texas. The company said it happened around 12:30 a.m.. “We regret that a contractor was fatally injured in an incident at a unit under maintenance at the Beaumont refinery,” explained Exxon in a statement. “We have …
France Considers Total Ban on U.S. Shale Gas from Fracking
France is considering a total ban of U.S. shale gas because of hydraulic fracking, according to a report this week by Reuters. The wire service quoted French Energy Minister Segolene Royal who has started an investigation to determine any legal way for the ban since France has banned shale gas exploration using hydraulic fracturing. She …
40th anniversary of Houston’s Deadly Anhydrous Ammonia Crash Observed
Wednesday was the 40th anniversary of a deadly anhydrous ammonia spill that left seven dead and nearly 200 injured in Houston, Texas. It happened May 11, 1976 when an 18-wheeler carrying 7,000 gallons of the ammonia fell from a freeway ramp, according to the Houston Chronicle. The fumes proved deadly for those too close to …
Kansas Joins Oklahoma in Suspending Work Toward Challenged EPA Rules
With his signature on a bill, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has suspended his state’s work on a plan to comply with the controversial efforts of the Environmental Protection Agency to reduce carbon emissions using the Clean Power Plan. The law signed by Brownback suspends the state’s work and makes Kansas the third state to take such …
Pruitt Sides with TransCanada in Arguing President Unlawfully Blocked Keystone XL Pipeline
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt has been joined by attorneys general from five other states in supporting the lawsuit filed by TransCanada challenging President Obama’s blocking of construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Texas joined Oklahoma in filing the Amicus Brief. It argues the President does not have the …
Canadian City Saved from Wildfire——Oil Sand Production Cut 1 Million Barrels a Day
Government leaders in Canada declare they have saved most of the city of Fort McMurray from the devastating wildfire that destroyed hundreds of homes in Canada’s oil sands city. An estimated 2,400 homes were destroyed but according to the Associated Press, another 25,000 others were saved including the city’s hospital, municipal buildings and …
Newfield Exploration Shutting Down Tulsa Offices
Short and to the point—-Newfield Exploration’s announcement this week that 50 of its employees in Oklahoma would be laid off and nearly 150 others would be transferred from the Tulsa offices back to the firm’s headquarters in Houston, Texas. Blame the oil and gas downturn and Newfield’s loss of millions in the first quarter of …
Chaparral Energy is Latest Oklahoma Energy Firm to File Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
Oklahoma City-based Chaparral Energy has become the latest Oklahoma oil and gas producer to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The firm filed Monday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of Delaware. “This action will facilitate the restructuring of our balance sheet as we continue to work through negotiations of a debt to equity exchange with our bondholders …
USGS Studies Show Water Contamination from Wastewater Disposal Site
The U.S. Geological Survey has released studies that for the first time show water-quality impacts directly due to what it called an unconventional oil and gas wastewater deep well injection disposal site. Two recent studies were conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey, the University of Missouri and Duke University. They indicated the presence of …