Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt put his name on Monday to a bill to spend up to $700 million on incentives to attract what is believed to be a prospective $4 billion Panasonic battery production plant to the state. Oklahoma and Kansas are reported to be the two finalists in contention for the plant that …
Volume six of Sen. Lankford’s Federal Fumbles
Senator James Lankford (R-OK) announced the sixth volume of his federal waste book, Federal Fumbles: Ways the government dropped the ball. It includes how the government is mishandling sales of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and how electric vehicles are not paying their fair share to use our highways. The report highlights waste and …
Headlines of other energy stories
** The Biden administration on Monday overturned a controversial Trump-era policy that would have opened new swathes of Arctic Alaska to oil development. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), part of the Department of Interior, resurrected Obama-era management policies in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, a 23-million-acre (9.3 million hectare) area on the western side of …
Crude drops below $100 in US on China’s COVID lockdowns
Crude oil prices took a 4% drop on Monday and fell below $100 a barrel in U.S. trading, all because of growing worries about the global energy demand outlook because of growing COVID-19 lockdowns in Shanghai, not to mention potential increases in U.S. interest rates. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery fell $3.53 to …
Tar Creek cited as a “most endangered river” in US
For a second straight year, a national conservation organization has named Tar Creek in northeast Oklahoma a place on its “America’s Most Endangered Rivers of 2022.” Tar Creek is an 11-mile stream polluted with heavy metals form historic lead and zinc mining and is the site of a notorious superfund site. Click here for …
Oklahoma Reps busy with energy hearings this week on Capitol Hill
As Congress returns to work this week following the Easter break, those Senators and Representatives from Oklahoma will be busy with some hearings at which top Biden administration officials will testify. Congressman Markwayne Mullin and other members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee will hear Thursday from Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. She is …
NextEra frustrated with Commerce review of solar panel suppliers
Discontent with the Biden administration’s review of tariffs on solar panels made in Asian countries is growing and the leader of NextEra Energy, the company with major wind farms in Oklahoma, is not afraid to voice his displeasure. “How can you possibly pull the rug out from under the industry?” asked John Ketchum, CEO …
Oklahoma’s electric co-ops select team to electrify remote Guatemalan village
Adults and children in the isolated, mountainous village of La Montanita de la Virgen in Guatemala are currently in the dark. The village has never had access to electricity before, but their story will soon change. The Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives (OAEC) has selected a group of volunteer linemen to electrify La Montanita …
Pipeline planned to carry North Dakota oil to Cushing
A North Dakota agency plans an early May hearing on a proposed $122 million pipeline to move Bakken oil to a Wyoming hub and eventually on to the Cushing hub in northern Oklahoma. The Bridger Pipeline Company is seeking approval after the project proposed for western North Dakota was delayed because of the coronavirus …
A hot and dry summer approaches Oklahoma
Things don’t look good for the approaching summer months in terms of rainfall in Oklahoma. The above map was posted Monday by Gary McManus, State Climatologist with the Oklahoma Mesonet. He also offered his thoughts about the kind of summer we might expect. “They ain’t good, but they ain’t gospel, either. However, if they …