The State of New Jersey has announced it reached a $39 million settlement with Houston-based ConocoPhillips in an issue concerning ground water contamination. Attorney General Christopher Porrino said ConocoPhillips was one of 50 oil and chemical firms sued by the state in 2007 over the contamination. The lawsuits accused the companies of being responsible for …
A second underground leak has been found in the same Colorado neighborhood where a house explosion in April killed two men and badly injured a woman. It’s what the head of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission told a neighborhood group, explaining that the underground gas plume was discovered in Firestone. News of the …
A former top FBI official in Oklahoma who was an agent who held high positions in the FBI’s Washington, D.C. headquarters says it’s time the Oklahoma Supreme Court ordered ATT to refund billions in a bribed Corporation Commission case. Writing this week, Buck Revell stated, “Justice delayed any further is justice denied; Bribery is unconstitutional …
The 2014 death of an oilfield worker at a Continental Resources well in North Dakota is one of two incidents now under investigation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The worker, Zachary Buckles died from toxic vapors at a well near Alexander, North Dakota. He was a “flow tester” assigned to measure tank levels by …
Scott Pruitt, the former Oklahoma Attorney General who now commands the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency made a visit to the state on Friday, reviewing environmental work in Osage County. He came to inspect pollution discovered nearly a year ago at Bird Creek on the Chapman Ranch. “It’s our agency doing what it’s supposed to do, coming …
A 22-year old driver who led Texas deputies on a car chase that resulted in damage to the Chevron Phillips 66 refinery in Borger remains jailed. It was over the weekend when a Hutchinson County deputy attempted to stop the driver of a stolen pickup truck. But the driver, later identified as Angel Vasquez …
Whether it’s coal, wind or oil and gas, each of the industries in the state has small businesses and those businesses have to deal with a mountain of paperwork as a result of federal regulations. U.S. Sen. James Lankford says it’s time for the federal government to eliminate some of those regulations that he calls …
“The Democrats are handing us a big pile of horsecrap.” Rep. John Bennett, R-Sallisaw. Sallisaw Republican Rep. John Bennett has never been a legislator to mince his words, and in the recent budget bill debate in the House, he was blunt. “The Democrats are handing us a big pile of horse crap. A pessimist …
Those in the legislature worried about the invasion of drones over private property now await the governor’s signature into law of a bill passed in the recently-concluded session. In last week’s final handling in the Senate, members voted 28-17 in support of HB 1326. Senator Lonnie Paxton, a Republican from Tuttle handled questions from others …
The wrap-up of the 2017 session of the Oklahoma legislature resulted in a bitter response from some oil and gas groups who complained that for the third consecutive year, the oil and gas industry will see tax increases. “The oil and natural gas industry is the single largest tax contributor to the state budget, and …