** The Keystone oil pipeline ruptured Tuesday morning in North Dakota, with the spill confined to an agricultural field. An employee working at the site near Fort Ransom heard a “mechanical bang” and shut down the pipeline within about two minutes, said Bill Suess, spill investigation program manager with the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality. …
Category: General
SPP leader spreads the word about growing electrical needs
Echoing what Southwest Power Pool President Lanny Nickell recently warned about the ability to meet growing electricity demands, largely due to the swelling data center industry, others expressed the same concerns at a recent meeting of regulators in Colorado. About 75 electric transmission industry officials gathered last week in Colorado Springs at a meeting …
$1 billion data center to be located in Arkansas
The rapid growth of data centers across the U.S. has electric grid operators concerned about the ability to meet the expanding demand for electrical power. One of the latest planned data centers will be in Conway, Arkansas where the city council approved a memorandum of understanding this week with an unnamed Fortune 100 company. …
The fight against eminent domain in farm and ranch states
The fight by some Oklahoma landowners against transmission corridors and the spread of wind and solar farms includes opposition to the use of eminent domain. Other states are facing the same battles, including South Dakota where Summit Carbon Solutions sued more than 200 farmers and landowners for a $9 billion carbon capture pipeline …
President’s latest executive order promotes coal mining
With flourish of a pen, President Donald Trump signed an executive order at the White House Tuesday afternoon, one aiming to boost U.S. coal mining. The action came as reports indicated the use of coal had dropped in the U.S. in the past few decades. But the President’s order defines coal as “mineral” which will …
Tariff fight hits Oklahoma energy stocks hard again as crude drops below $60
The growing issue of worldwide tariffs continued taking its toll on Oklahoma energy stocks as most suffered more losses in Tuesday’s trading. Just as U.S. crude oil futures fell below $60 a barrel in the U.S., so did Oklahoma energy trading including Mammoth Energy with the biggest percentage drop at nearly 13%. Vital Energy scored …
Freezing weather lasted longer than expected in parts of Oklahoma
After shuffling flowering plants indoors and covering planted vegetable gardens to protect them from last week’s cold weather, warmer weather is promised this week. But the Oklahoma Mesonet provided a map showing just how many hours were “below freezing” in the last week. This coming weekend, according to Gary McManus, State Climatologist with the …
House energy committee to handle windfarm setback bill
Shut-in gas wells, wind farm setback requirements and natural gas energy standards are topics of some of the State Senate-approved bills to be handled Wednesday when the Oklahoma House Energy Committee meets. The committee will examine the energy bills already passed by the Senate, including SB2, the wind farm setback bill that was approved …
Well incident injured one worker in northern Colorado
Chevron says one worker was injured in what was described as a “well control incident” at one of its well sites near the northern Colorado city of Greeley on Monday. Evacuations were ordered and a nearby school was closed when the incident happened Sunday afternoon. Weld County officials said the well was releasing “primarily …
Energy briefs
** President Trump is expected to sign executive orders this week supporting the coal industry, including using emergency powers to force some coal plants slated for closure to stay open. ** One person was injured after a “well control incident” at a Chevron oil and gas facility northeast of Greeley, Colorado that prompted evacuations and …