The date of Aug. 31 is when a Montana federal judge will hear arguments whether legal challenges should move ahead to the Keystone XL pipeline. The challenges are being fought by the government. It concerns two lawsuits filed against the Trump administration in March by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club, the Centr …
Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter joined other Republican attorneys general in recently coming to the defense of Exxon Mobil Corp. in its fight with some Democratic attorneys general. Hunter was one of a dozen attorneys general who made arguments against climate scientists who blame energy companies in part of the rising level of carbon dioxide. …
Oklahoma U.S. Senators Jim Inhofe and James Lankford voted this week to confirm Kristine Svinicki to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. And there remains the possibility that yet another former Inhofe staffer could be in line to influence energy policies in the Trump administration. Svinicki was confirmed on a vote of 88-9 to a five-year term. …
While Governor Mary Fallin and State Transportation Department leaders have pointed to what they consider to be major improvements in highways and bridges, a new national report shows Oklahoma’s roads and bridges remain in need of major improvements. TRIP, a national non-profit transportation research group is out with a report Rural Connections: Challenges and Opportunities …
Another lawsuit has been filed in a constitutional challenge to one of the new tax laws created in the recent legislative session in Oklahoma. It was filed by the Oklahoma Automobile Dealers Association along with Battison Honda in Oklahoma City and a Ponca City woman who contend the new 1.25 percent sales tax on Oklahoma …
For embezzling $1.5 million from the South Texas power plant he led, former CEO John David Upchurch has been sentenced to two years in federal prison. He was a CEO of Chase Power Development and pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiracy and wire fraud. He has repaid the stolen money. Prosecutors say he submitted fake …
In Wyoming, the state has decided it wants to monitor failed oil and company operators who try to restart business with a new firm or shrug their legal responsibilities. The Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission says it wants to keep track on those connected to what it labels as bad operations. A spokeswoman for …
The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality’s public meeting on mercury levels in fish taken from 14 lakes will be held Tuesday in Oklahoma City. The agency’s added the lakes since its last advisory was issued in 2016 regarding elevated levels of mercury found in some of the fish. The advisories came as a result of …
At least 23 members of the Oklahoma legislature got a perfect score from the Research Institute for Economic Development for their votes on economic development and business issues. RIED is a non-partisan organization founded in 1997 and issues an annual report in which legislators are graded on their votes. Eleven members of the state senate …
Oklahoma is within days of officially rolling back a 10-year tax credit for electricity generated by wind. Governor Mary Fallin signed House Bill 2298 into law after a movement was started in 2016 by anti-wind groups, largely the oil and gas industry, in which complaints were made of the millions of dollars in unneeded credits …